Where'd My Mojo Go?

Utah has been awesome. The varying terrain has certainly kept me entertained, but the climbing has diminished said entertainment at times. Coming into the ride, I knew there was going to be a lot of climbing, and being a flatland dweller, there wasn't much I could do to train for the hills. All I could do was go out for long, hard rides. That's what I did, and I got through Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri just fine. I even pulled the 14 miler and 11 miler in Colorado without trouble. Utah, though, has just about done me in. And tomorrow, during the trek to Cedar City where we will enjoy a rest day on Friday, we have a 30 mile climb. 30 freakin' miles! That's just wrong.

I'll do the climb, just like all the previous, but I'll not enjoy it. We're at day 47, riding 50+ miles most days, and I for one am just plain tired. While I enjoy the camping, I haven't been sleeping for quite some time now. There always seems to be something going on that keeps me awake: another camper listening to music without using headphones, another camper deciding to get out of his/her tent and unzipping then zipping again, another camper deciding to rummage through the trailer at midnight or getting into the van for whatever and banging the door shut without regard to those trying to sleep, and another camper snoring. Last night, for instance, campers just down the way from our site played cards late into the night. They were loud. I knew this was going to be the case earlier in the evening, so I put Pandora on, put in my earbuds, and very happily listened to music rather than the goings-on of the other campers. Unfortunately I can't do this tonight. No wifi at the tent site so no Pandora.

At this point of the ride, the cumulative factor is great. Lots of miles. Lots of climbing. Lots of no sleep. All add up to losing the incentive to continue. I very easily could call Hubby and say please come get me right now. I won't, though. I signed up for the ride with the intention of going all the way to San Francisco, so I will do just that. I don't know how much I'll enjoy the last two weeks of riding, however, because even in Nevada there will be lots of climbing. I was even told that the day we leave Nevada and enter California we'll face the hardest climb of the whole trip. I'm trying not to think that far ahead, but . . ..

I think back to the beginning in Yorktown and how excited I was, how each day I totally looked forward to the day's ride no matter what the ride entailed. Now, I'm wondering where that mojo went.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marigolds

Image
The smell of marigolds isn't completely pleasant. It's not completely offensive either. It's somewhere in between. It's a smell all its own. Hours after my hands have moved their long stems, cupped the blooms in wonder, I have to pause what I'm doing -- making the bed, vacuuming the house, hanging up clothes that had been unceremoniously dropped on the bedroom floor -- when the faint whiff of marigold drifts up to remind me of my time with them. Marigolds are just lovely. Whenever I see a marigold or smell a marigold, I'm taken back to my childhood. To a movie that for some reason became a part of who I am. I was only eight when the movie came out, but I remember having a very strong reaction to it, and every summer when I plant marigolds, I think of that movie: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man in the Moon Marigolds. I try to watch it at least once a year, and since the marigolds I planted this summer are blooming, I thought the time is perfect to watch the movie
Read more

Profoundly Sad Today and I Don't Know Why

Image
I'm right at the edge today, fearing I might step off if the just-right reason shows up. What the just-right reason is, I don't know, but I guess if I end up dissolving into the tears that seem to be threatening, I'll know then. I'm trying to be analytical about the feeling pressing against the back of my eyes and through my nasal passages, hoping that analysis will help the feeling go away. It's not really working. Sleep eluded me most of the night. Once or twice a month I have a night sleep just won't come. I go to bed tired, but after an hour or two of sleep, I'm wide awake. Tossing, mostly onto my back and my left side. I don't sleep on my right side since my vertigo incident. I actually prefer my right but I'm afraid I'll trigger another bout of dizziness. Sleep laughed at me and slithered off to bathe someone else in dreamland. I'm pretty sure lack of sleep is part of today's slipping into sadness. That and thoughts of Ado. I miss h
Read more

Night Sky

Image
I had dinner with friends last evening. In their screened-in patio overlooking a wooded backyard leading to a creek. The air cooled significantly as the sky darkened, and at one moment we all enjoyed watching an owl that had taken perch on a tree limb near the creek. While a movie played, we chatted and ate ice pops. I'm pretty sure mine was grapefruit. At least that's what I'm going with.  Not long after the movie ended, I made my way home, which wasn't far. Just a couple of blocks. Cicada, cricket, and frog song drifted on the cool air, and when I looked up, I saw a clear sky full of stars. We've not had a clear night in some time. I stopped in the middle of the street to take in the scene. When I finally arrived home I decided to try and get some night sky photos, something I've never done before. I had no idea what I was doing. I spent twenty minutes or so on the front porch, swaying in my hammock swing as I read an article about astrophotography. What lens
Read more