Riding, Just for the Love of it
February 22, 2021I ride just for the love of it, and before I ever raced or participated in events like fondos, I enjoyed just being on my bike.
I ride just for the love of it, and before I ever raced or participated in events like fondos, I enjoyed just being on my bike.
In 2008 I bought my first road bike and rekindled a love of bikes that had been absent since I was about thirteen years old.
I felt like I was losing the joy that cycling used to bring me and I wasn’t sure how to get it back.
I had only been back on the bike for three or four weeks at that point, not feeling very fast or strong, yet I decided to make my return to racing with a time trial, just eleven weeks postpartum.
In spite of the fact that I was active all throughout my pregnancy, I realized I was going to have my work cut out for me to get back into the kind of shape I was in last spring.
I was starting to feel more of a toll on my body in different ways which posed some new challenges for me.
As you enter the second trimester your heart begins to work about forty percent harder and pump more blood than before and so your heartrate will be higher even during moderate efforts.
I feel like a missile, soaring over the ground, rather than a person pedaling a bike.
You have to have a great love of the sport to be willing to endure many of the race day events week after week. It’s not all enjoyable, but if you love what you are doing at the end of the day it is worth it.
Women who race are constantly having to battle to get equal payouts and even have dedicated women’s fields included in races.