Why?

I last rode my road bike* about 6 days previously, so I decided Tuesday it was time to take my ride up to Emerald Bay again.  It's been a while since I came close to breaking my time to the top of 42:50, and I guess my legs just needed a break.  As I entered the last mile of my climb to the overlook I saw that my elapsed time had just hit 33 minutes, and as I entered the parking lot of the overlook I looked down to see my time to the top was 41:05!  Wow, I knocked a minute & 45 seconds off my previous best time! So the question is, WHY?  Why do I care about my time?  Why do I put myself through 40+ minutes of minor torture a few times a week?  It's just my nature, I guess.  I always need a benchmark when I am exercising so I can push myself to improve, not just maintain my conditioning.   Some days just a few minutes into my ride I can tell I don't have it, and so I don't push it too hard.  Other days, like Tuesday, I can tell after a few minutes that I do have "it".  Of course there are the amazing views that do tend to take my mind off my suffering, if only for a few seconds here and there......

To top it off I also broke my round trip record for the 17.2 mile course by 3 minutes covering the distance in just 1 hour and 9 minutes.....my previous best was 1 hour and 12 minutes......again, it's easy just to coast home after a great ride to the top, but I keep track of the total round trip time to push myself on the way home, too.  As you will recall, my first ride to the top back in the 3rd week of May took me over 49 minutes.....now I'm getting to where it may be possible over the next few weeks for me to cover the 8.6 miles to the top in under 40 minutes.

The temperature when I left on my ride at 11 am was in the low 50's and I was once again all bundled up against the cold, and grateful for every piece of clothing I was wearing.....the high for Tuesday barely hit 61, and it was no day to spend too much time outside, so we spent more time watching World Cup Futbol**.  The game between Mexico and Brazil was the best of the day ending in a 0-0 tie, but that was not the story of the match.....the story was the incredible goal keeping by Mexico's Ochoa.....he made 4, or 5 amazing saves enabling Mexico to keep the score tied.....Brazil was clearly the better team, but they just could not score against Ochoa.

Around 5:30, after the final match of the day between Russia and South Korea (also ended in a tie, 1-1), I grilled a filet mignon that TLE*** had bought a few days prior....it was aged with very good marbling, and quite thick.  It took a full 18 minutes to bring it to a satisfactory medium rare state.  TLE*** added a salad and garlic laced mashed potatoes to compliment the steak, which was one of the best I have ever turned out.

We capped off the day with a fire, and I smoked a cigar for the first time in a couple of months......

Life is GOOD!

Thanks for stopping by!

* bike = bicycle, not motorcycle
** Futbol = Soccer
*** TLE = The Lovely Elaine