Suprise smiles

It started to rain as soon as I got on my bike yesterday.  I thought about turning around but living in the Portland area means riding in the rain so I kept going.  Also, this wasn't a pleasure ride...I didn't want to do it and I knew it was going to be hard, so why not suffer even more.

I was doing my LT test which is made up of 30 minutes warm-up (hard to do in pounding rain), 30 minutes out of the world hard time trial effort with HR monitor recording the final 20 minutes of the painful sustained effort.  Finally, a 30 minute cool down.

The warm-up ended up being kind of pleasant, down wind, hit all the lights and before I knew it, I was sailing down deserted roads.  The warm-up ended and I went into crazy time trial mode which for me feels like a bullet fast effort but to the casual observer, it probably just looks like a fish out of water riding a bike.

The main thing I noticed as I went faster for that 30 minutes is that I really started to get even more wet.  I was completely soaked and the spray off my wheel was hyptnotizing.

At about 25 minutes into the test, I just started to smile and laugh.  Water was spraying all over my face, I was freezing, but for some reason I felt great. I was simply happy.  Maybe it was endorphins but I hadn't been out that long.  I think instead it was just the realization that I'm overcoming a lot to just get out and I'm able to go faster than I could ever imagine going before. 

I have been surprised quite a bit lately by moments that are funny and times that just make me smile.  My girls are now at the age that they purposefully do funny things.  Weather they are giving zerberts, explaining things to eachother, or doing their best to get out of work, they crack me up.  They are also at the age that they say funny and embarassing things in public and are eager to talk about poop.  They simply crack me up and make me smile.

So, I guess I'm a bit insane right now but more than that, I think I'm seeing certain things more clearly and I like what I see.  I'm enjoying life.

So after I finished smiling like an idiot on the bike, I had a 30 minute cool down which really ended up being a freeze down.  By the time I got back to work, I was covered in mud, totally soaked, couldn't feel my feet and wasn't able to type for about 45 minutes.  I was too busy shivering to appreciate much, however, the feeling that made me smile while on the bike is still with me and I can't wait to do it again.