There's getting away from it all, and then...

Once again, I attempted a ride myself into shape road cycling bootcamp, this time it was only two days and I had my guy with me. The much anticipated trip turned sour for me about 55 km into our ride when I bonked hard. 

This wasn't supposed to happen. I had been teaching spin all winter, training karate, teaching the new Advanced Circuit Training while my guy was resting on his laurels. I was supposed to rip his legs off and return home triumphantly. Instead I was stopped at the top of the final climb (at least I made it up) feeling nauseous and dizzy and threatening bodily harm if my guy tried to continue with his "work through it" lecture.

Was it under training? Over training? the 40+ Celsius heat? Dehydration? Or am I getting soft, weak and lazy? I really don't have an answer to that (though several signs do point to dehydration). I do know that my last two bike rides have sucked (don't get me wrong, I had a great time, I just didn't perform the way I expected to). Now I'm back home, once again analyzing the situation (read over analyzing) and trying to fill in the gaps. The gaps in my nutrition, the gaps in my training, the gaps in my mental fortitude and trying to repair the breach to get me back where I used to be.

While I'm home putting it all back together, my guy is taking it all apart; reading real estate pages for some truly rural areas and dreaming of a house in the country in his near future. I'm torn. Yes, riding for several hours (and many km's) without a single driver-cyclist altercation was mind blowing. We saw enough examples of effective road cohabitation to determine it was not a fluke. Drivers passed when it was safe, giving cyclists a wide berth and they patiently waited behind when they couldn't. Without the slogans, signs or campaigns these two groups just got along, like any other option had not occurred to them. We didn't encounter a single car horn, hollering, item thrown out the window at us or any other attempt at harassment. It was cycling shangri la, add to that the fact that most hills peak at a 14% gradient and I start dreaming of that country house too.

Then I remember the 1 hr drive to get a real cappuccino, the single decent bike store (and it really is good) that only carries one clothing line, and the Italian restaurant being the closest thing the community has to "ethnic food" and I realize it's a nice place to visit but..... but in my own area I see construction signs for the 407 toll highways expansion that will run right through the supposed green belt and cut of all my safe cycling routes and the balance shifts back to the West.

Maybe,giving up my favourite Indian restaurant is worth not getting killed while out for a bike ride