Oh, the Irony

It occurred to me that the very activity that I had hoped would give me more mobility and freedom has done exactly the opposite. Here I trained for months for BAK so I could see the state, and it has ended up forcing me on the couch, unable to move much further than the bathroom. This, Alanis Morrissette, is indeed ironic.

Some things I will keep in mind when I do BAK next year:

1. I have nothing to prove to myself in terms of endurance riding. I can do 75+ miles back to back to back, so I don't need to worry about having the training to make it to my destination each day. Before this BAK, my longest ride was 70 miles once, and this BAK showed me I can hack the long miles, as long as my knee holds up. I bet I can pull off a Century (100 miles) when my knee mends.

2. Keeping (1) in mind, I will take more photos, stop at more of the sights, and generally take more time off the bike to see and enjoy all those sights you wouldn't normally notice when driving through Kansas. There is so much beauty in our state to see when there is not a windshield in your way, you are not on the interstate highway system, and you are not going 70+ mph.

3. I will probably sleep in a tent next year. Although lights out at 10:00 p.m. is very reasonable when staying in the gyms, I think I would like to give tenting a try. Most of my BAK friends were tenters, so I'd like to see it from their perspective.

4. I will try to bring Beka with me. She's not a cyclist (yet), but she has mentioned wanting to help out with SAG stops. I think it would be fun to make it sort of a family Vay-Cay.

5. I will train harder. I did one long ride and several moderate-length rides (40-50 miles), but I had not slammed together several long rides to get my body ready. Now that I know what BAK days are like, I will do longer rides, but at slower speeds.

6. I will not do just cycling. I've learned I need to do weight training in the gym in addition to cycling to keep my muscle development symmetrical. Not doing weights is part of the reason I'm stuck here on the couch.

7. I will not ride as hard. I've sort of mentioned this, but I need to remind myself that BAK is not a race, and I don't need to focus on my average speed or time to finish each day. I knew that in my mind on this BAK, but I did not translate it into the effort I put into each day's ride. I think if I had not pushed quite as hard in the first few days' rides, I would have put less strain on my knees.

I'm sure I will remember more things as I sit here, bored on the couch, but that's all I've got right now.