Reunited and it feels so good

Competitive cycling and I had a little falling out this weekend. But we have since kissed and made up.

I think the problem was not enough "quality time". I was taking everything for granted and hoping everything would come to me.

After some mediocre early season results, I drove 6.5 hours to Tennessee for a two-day three stage race and was met with a combination of bad luck and heiney-kicking.

Stage 1: I pinch flatted. Penny pinch that is. I was too cheap to mount new tires.
Stage 2: I thought I could climb, but 23 people beat me in the 2.5 mile uphill time trial. The winner bested me by over a minute and a half! I went out too fast and red-lined after 1.25 miles. I'm not in peak condition yet. That's obvious.
Stage 3: I got dropped in the criterium when the group was whittled down to less than half. That's the first time I've been dropped in years.

Naturally, I was pissed off.

On the ride back home, I was demoralized and had reached a point of capitulation. I decided I was going to Hardees for lunch where I would buy a "multi-slabs-o-fat" burger and slam it into my face. At the end of my trip, I would stop at Fox & Hound Centerville and get trashed. I was going to ride my bike to work only this week and take a week off of any training.

* hey, stop mocking me and let me continue with my little soap opera story *

Then, I forgave. Lunch at Hardees became Subway on oat bread. Getting trashed became two light beers at home. Riding to work only became 25 extra miles yesterday.

I think I was just lashing out.

I'm mostly at fault. I took cycling for granted. I was training, but kind of going through the motions. Before my twice-weekly hard training rides, I had fear in my gutt about the pain ahead when I should have been glorying in the vision of ripping people's legs off on my bike.

But the spark has returned. Now, I'm motivated to make this relationship work and this disaster in Tennessee was just what I needed.

I can't wait until tomorrow morning. It will be like make-up sex. Okay, maybe not. But do you get my point?