Mind over peddles

Wednesday, a most beautiful evening. Warm, sunny, and most importantly, not so much as a leaf shaking. A perfect evening to ride. I found every reason not to go. It's not that I didn't want to go; it's just that more important things came up. No big deal--
tomorrow evening would be fine. The Weather Bug was telling me it would be 15 degrees cooler. I could handle that. So then it was settled, I would put the ride off until tomorrow.

Thursday came and it was cold and windy. Although I didn't want to go, I didn't talk myself out of riding, surprising myself. The discussion I had in my head was not negative at all. I actually negotiated how I would ride. I didn't do my normal whine that I need the easy conditions so I can be comfortable or I won't go. I actually assessed the conditions and dressed for it, then determined what I would accomplish. What the hell was going on here? It's possible I'd been possessed by some lost cyclist's spirit who, in me, found a weak soul to find his redemption. Or I'd just spent so much time on the bike that I'd actually changed how I approach riding. Either way I had reached a new level toward my goal.

The plan... I had a plan? Now I was scared. Ok, I needed to just go with it. The plan was to work on strengthening my knee. Spin an easy gear at a high cadence, and not pay any attention to my speed. In my case speed kills. The faster I try to go, the bigger the gear, the more pain in my knee. I had been doing my strengthening exercises but was a long way off from strong enough quads to handle any heavy gears. The plan was set, so off I went. Man, it was hard. I felt strong, but I didn't have the mindset to ride. My brain was sucking the life out of me. All I wanted to do was to go back home. I stuck with it and worked the plan: ride a high cadence in a high gear, and don't worry about the speed. After about 16 miles I was feeling good and spinning my legs off. I got to 20 miles and was still going strong. I reached a turning point and had to make the decision to turn for home as the wife had a time limit on my ride. We had dinner plans and I needed to get home, clean up and get to the restaurant. I have to say that I really enjoyed myself. Something had changed and I was working a plan. It was kind of nice.

My one goal is to have the quad strength to ride without knee pain. If I keep doing what I did the other night, I will get there very soon.