No more excuses!

Your probably thinking that I am talking about motivation & weightloss. Nope!! I am talking about self doubt.

You see for months I have browsed the internet and thought about signing up for a cycling event. I missed a few opportunites already (Pauls Ride for Life & the Airforce Cycling Classic) because of the little self doubt devil that sits on my left shoulder. I would go so far as the registration page & everytime I got to the final registration screen for both events, crazy thoughts would dance around in my head like "will I be fast enough, I am too fat for cycling, I will be the last one to finish..." and both times I chickened out and clicked the little red box with the x in the top right corner to close out the window.

Last night I did a 10 mile ride & while on the trail I was passed by this tall guy who had to have been going at least 20 mph. I thought wow there is no way in hell I would be able to maintain that type speed for any long distance ride. I may be able to hang on for a couple miles at most. 

I kept on going and a few minutes later an older guy (I am guessing in his mid 50's) was about to pass me. By this time I had enough and wasn't going to let another person pass me &so my competitive "engine" went into high gear. He stayed with me for a good 3 miles then the gap widened and I was far ahead of him. While pedaling away I thought about all those lost opportunities for rides that I could have participated it but let my silly fears get the best of me. I made a promise to myself to stop making excuses and just DO IT!

post ride hot socks

There is a ride coming up in August that has several distance options 10, 25 or 63 miles. I have been eyeballing this ride for weeks and this morning I went to their webpage and did it. I registered for their 25 mile ride!! I actually wanted to do the metric century (63 miles) but there simply is not enough time to train for that distance between now and the event day. 

I have always wanted to do a century ride and the one I would like to do is the Seagull Century ride in Salisbury, MD. I refuse to do it solo so I need to really work on convincing my friend J or hubby to do it with me.