Musing in the woods of Arkansas

Internet continues to be an interesting issue for me, in these small southern towns.   It's probably not the towns, as much as the motels we are staying in.  Lets just say, they are not the best motels in town.

This is a shot of the guys I have dubbed the "hole in the tire gang"  aka the New Jersey Swedish Connection.   Hans and Bengt are from Stockholm, and Bob and Lenny are from NJ.  Great guys, but they get lots of flat tires!!! :)

On day 5 of this ride, I was wondering if I was going to make it another day, say nothing of making it to the Atlantic Ocean.  I looked at myself in the mirror, and concluded that I was really running myself down fast, and that with 21 more days to go, I figured, I just couldn't keep doing this to myself.  So, I asked the old timers on the ride, how I was supposed to recover, while at the same time riding every day?  They kinda looked at me, and smiled and really didn't offer much advice.  (Little did I know, that every other rider was asking the same question, they were just not willing to express it, out loud)  So, I determined that if I did not feel some recovery of my strength and my legs, after day 10, I was going to take a day off.  I figured, I wanted to enjoy some parts of this ride, and that without recovery, it was going to be excruciatingly painful the whole way.

Well low and behold, after day 6, we had a day, the was long like all the days, but with less mountains, and less wind, and apparently, my legs and body, were able to recover some.  I jsut spun with little or no stress on the legs, relatively.  Then we got 2 days in a row like that, and my legs recovered more.  The wierd part is, my mind keeps telling me, you can't do this, but my legs keep doing it, especially after they get an easier day (relatively).  

So, here is my thought process now, as I approach a big hill, or a daunting wind.  My mind says, " you don't have much left, you can't have much left, can't you feel your legs, they hurt already".  I feel the pain, but the legs keep going, they go right through the pain, the ache the burn.  And they just keep going, even as the my mind say, you don't have much left in the tank.   The capacity for suffering, has increased significantly, and the reserves of power in my legs have increased alot also.  They adapted to the stress, and got lots stronger.

So, my conclusion is, my mind has not caught up with my legs.  Usually, its the other way around.  The mind says, "you can do this", and then the various muscles fail, or can't achieve the desired goal.  But now, after a full spring, summer and fall of riding, well over 5000 miles, with 16 straight days of over 100 miles/day, my mind is out of touch with my legs.  Lost control, I guess :)?

So, can you imagine, as I am going down the road, pedaling away.  My mind and my legs are going back and forth with this discussion.  

Well finally today, my mind, lightened up a bit, and started to think about making it to the Atlantic Ocean.  Putting alittle confidence in these legs and this body, that has risen to the challenge, adapted to the stress, and recovered when recovery seem impossible.

I thought some of you would like to see this dialog, because I am absolutely positive, that most anyone could do this, because God has designed absolutely incredible bodies for each one of us. 

What the next phase of this trip will be, I don't know.  But I don't plan to get over confident.  I will take each segment, one at a time.  Eat right, sleep, and try to recharge as much as possible.  Thanks so much for your support, your prayers, and your kind words.  

Today was another short day, about 93 miles with less than 1500 feet of climbing to Pine Bluff.  Tomorrow is a long day, 144 miles to Clarksdale, and a new state, Mississippi.  We'll say on the river, so that will be fun, because I do so much work on the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.