Cursing the Fates.

I've been having a string of bad luck of late that has pretty much ended any chance of riding well anytime in '08. None of it was serious; It was mostly a bunch of minor incidents that has made it impossible to develop or maintain any decent fitness. It's as if the Fates were conspiring to keep me off the bike. So I decided to give the Fates their due and to lay down some serious base and look forward to '09.

The problem with this is that it means I am doing long rides (4-5 hours) in the middle of summer when I would have normally scaled back the time and been doing 2 1/2 hours of intensity and sprint intervals. This also jives with the pause in the racing season here that happens during the summer months. There are races in the spring and fall but very few in July and August when the heat, humidity and typhoons are at their peak.

So Sunday I went out for a planned 4 hour ride that features about 1400m of climbing. I started off feeling a little better than I had of late so I bumped the pace up during the warm-up and got on top of the gear a little more than I had recently. This was shaping up to be a good one.

About a hour into it I was riding tempo along a tree-lined road that is a slight false flat up and heads into the foothills. Up ahead I saw some dark clouds rolling in and I could tell there was some big rain in store for me later. Ok, I thought, this one might get a bit epic.

I kept riding.

The wind began to kick up and it started to get darker and darker all around me. I had started out in bright sunshine so I was wearing dark lenses. I slipped my shades off and stuck them in my helmet. A light rain began to fall.

I was actually a bit thankful for the rain. It was a lot cooler than the summer sun I started out in. The wind picked up a bit more and the rain followed suit. Now it was blowing in my face but I was feeling pretty good so I kept the tempo going and resolved to hammer through it.

As the wind drove the rain into my face it started to sting but it was ok because I was feeling better than I had in months. I just put my head down and kept turning the legs. Then I saw a lightening strike about a click or so in front of me. This is pretty odd for around here. Then, within the space of less than a minute I saw 4 more.

I kept riding.

The wind notched up once more and was now driving the rain into my face. It felt like a was riding through a swarm of bees. Then more lightening. This was getting serious. Then I realized that the Fates were having at me again. This was the first ride where I felt even part way decent and they were sending this storm to slap me down once more. Damn, this was getting personal! I started to get angry. Defiant. I would be damned if those biotches were going to take this ride away from me.

I kept riding.

The wind became deafening. It felt like every drop of rain was piercing my flesh. The lightening strikes were coming fast and furious. Even if I wanted to get off my bike I was surrounded by trees on either side of the road for a few kms in each direction. What was I to do? I put my head down, cursed the sky and I kept riding.

You know that scene in the Trueman show (or almost any other movie where some idiot is caught in a storm at sea) where Jim Carey lashes himself to the mast and shouts at the sky, "Is this all you got?!", "Is this it?", "Bring it on!"? That was me.

The wind was pressing me down until my chest was resting on the top tube. I was riding at a crawl. The rain was threatening to tear chunks of flesh from my body or, at the very least, powerwash the tattoos off of me. There were so many lightening strikes I'd completely lost count and I was cursing the sky and telling whoever to "Bring it on!".

Idiot.

Then there was this pause, or maybe it was a lull - I can never tell the difference. For a second I was able to spit the water out of my mouth and catch my breath. "HA!" I thought. "Ha," indeed.

Just behind me, slightly out of my peripheral view and to the right, there was a strike. The bang was so loud that, when I got home, I was sure that I was going to find that I'd soiled my bibs a little bit. All of the hairs on my body felt like they were standing up. The air had this smell I can't describe. It was a like that smell after a big storm, with an undertone of burnt something and then something else - something else I'd never smelled before.

I kept riding.

The wind dropped off to a manageable level and the rain became rain again. It was still a pretty decent storm but it felt as if the meanness of it was gone.

I did 2 1/2 more hours of wind, rain, sun and climbing. I felt good. I felt good for the first time in many months. I know it sounds weird (and a wee bit hippyish) but it felt as if something had passed. For the first time in months I felt hopeful, that the road was long but it lead somewhere. It was going to be ok.

I just need to keep riding.