Heartbroken or I'm Never Going to do this Again

I bought the Twin 6 steel gravel bike not long after I broke my hip.  The thinking was I'd just be a happy old cripple riding a touring pace at the back of the group.  It worked for a while.  Friends would wait on me.  The bike is comfortable and looks good.  But, it's heavy, really heavy.

So Now It's 2019

And I take the bait and decide to do the Heartbreaker.  It was my birthday weekend, we hadn't seen The Kid for a while, it might be the last time I get to do this with him, Dr. Sworks was going, and the Gators were playing basketball that night.  Oh, and it was 92 degrees. 

It is a pretty bike

"I'll just run it zone 2-3 for a training ride" I said to myself.  Yea, that didn't work out.  I would have been by myself all day.  Turns out it took zone 3-4 with an occasional trip to 5 just to stay in the back of the trailing group!  The soft sandy sections were hard but the bike handled them better than some.  I made it to about mile 58 out of 67 when the wheels came off.

Bonked

I had noticed I was running into middle zone 4 and not moving forward very fast.  My little group was leaving me behind.  I didn't want to eat, I knew the bonk was near.  I let them go and continued to plow into the warm headwinds along the paved roads leading back into Gainesville.  I was miserable.  I just wanted to be done.  I finally made it into town after taking a wrong turn, then cramping.  I had my magic cramp sauce with me but was unable to get the top off.  I was soooo done.

Anyhoo, I arrived back at the car and proceeded to have a class 5 hissy fit.

"This is the last one of these I'll ever ride!" among other thing I don't remember.

My Excuse

It is the bike.  Really.  The thing weights at least 28 lbs.  I know I'm in decent enough shape to ride with the group I was with while putting out that kind of effort.

Basketball

We went to the game.  Gators won.  I only cramped once.  Then it was off to dinner with The Kid.  The Lovely Wife drove home while I napped.

Sunday

Interestingly enough I felt great Sunday.  Tired sure, sore, yea, but good still.  And surprise surprise I am ready to do it again.  Just going to try a different bike this time.

As a P.S. I turned 63 today.  I am super grateful I can still do what I do.  I'm glad to still want to do it.  I know how it feels not to be able to do it and that sucks.  When you're at the bottom things don't look so good, but sometimes you just need to go there, you know, so the climb back up can feel so good.