My Year In Biking

Excited

This week is all about my future biking adventures – can you feel the excitement? Probably not. Trust me, I’m excited. Nothing like talking about biking and planning out my rides.

I think I actually have a group of people who might stick with me this year and be as passionate about biking as either I am or a little more. I think that will be both a good and bad thing.

• Good: I have someone to be accountable to, learn from and be a team with. 
• Bad: I am use of doing my own thing in my own time. With others around, I have to be a team player.

Events
Well, I think I just maxed out all I can do on a bike in a year. It reminds me of a text I once got. .

Seems reasonable

Here is what my schedule looks like – and by schedule I mean the things I am going to sign up for or have signed up for a need to train for.

Girls with Gears
Date: 4/21/2013
Route: 25 miles

Quad County Metric Ride 
Date: 5/11/2013
Route: 62 miles

Nockamixon Lake Century 
Date: 8/24/2013
Route: 100 miles

Tour DaVita
Date: 9/14/2013-9/18/2013
Route: 270 miles

MS City to Shore
Date: 9/28/2013
Route: 100 miles

Covered Bridges Ride
Date: 10/20/2013
Route: 33 miles

So that means I have 590 miles booked in just tours alone. I mean, I rode a total of 1,587 last year. Whatever! I am most likely to crap out on the Quad and Nock. I wonder if other people will want to come along with me – drafting will make a huge difference. I know the people most likely to want to come with me are going to be those who are much more advanced than me – that means I overdo it trying to keep up or might as well do everything alone.

None of these people know my issue.

Revelations
I was looking over my old blog posts from my first century last year (you can read them from my Manda's Century page) and I found it sort of fun and learn-ish. I guess I will continue posting some stuff here. I really would like to document my (adrenal) crashes more. Even though, with my model-like boyfriend sticking around, I am trying to be more careful with myself.

I don’t think it is fair to subject people who love you to. . . wait a minute. That’s a lie. If I’m miserable, everyone should be miserable!

Take Aways
Here is what I am focusing on this year.

• Eating: I found once I stopped biking, I lost about 25lbs. One was because my thyroid woke up and started doing its business, the other was I stopped eating. I track what I eat on MyFitnessPal and I sometimes eat a couple hundred calories. I need to make sure I am fueling my body correctly. 
• Structure: I actually stepped aside with a lot of my volunteering so I would be free to ride and live a normal-ish life. I can set up a better schedule. I also don’t have to worry about dating – and I mean, the boyfriend said he would do the MS City to Shore with me and already laughed for about 10 minutes the first time he saw me in biking clothes.
• Medication: I am going to do better with my meds. I am going to do awesome with my supplements and I am going to be careful with myself. Even typing out that list spawned a little patch of neuropathy at my neck so I am going to be gentle with myself. I often write off “emotional” things but those are chemically induced and that can wreck me. 
• Truth: Winners (in life) never lie to themselves. I can’t lie about my condition and how I have to manage it. I also need to be truthful with those around me if I am going to be on a team. I know how to handle my breakdowns, I don’t know how to handle other people handling my breakdowns. 
• Logo: I am totally going to come up with a great name for my “team” and a logo. Yeah!

Be Part of the Adventure
Do you have a suggestion or want to see me attempt something? Drop me an email at AdventuringAmanda@gmail.com with your suggestion.