Cycling

My freshman and sophomore years in college, I became a smoker. (Rebellion? You betcha.) Luckily, I decided that wasn't a very good idea, and came up with a strategy for quitting.

...Actually, I'm trying to make myself sound like super woman, so let me start over...

After a half dozen times of quitting, then starting again, nearly losing hope, and close to resolving that I would be a smoker forever, I decided on a whim to to go to MSC Open House and look for an athletic club to join that would motivate me to quit.

Of course, I had no idea what I wanted to join, but I knew if I spent enough time I would find something that would give me the proper drive. After a few hours of wandering around, I narrowed it down to rowing or cycling. The rowing club had a meeting that conflicted with a work shift, so cycling it was.

During the meeting, there was discussion of a mountain bike race that weekend in Comfort, TX. I didn't think much of it, but a few days later I decided I wanted to go and called up the mountain bike VP and nailed it down.

Now, Comfort is a pretty tough course. 9ish miles of rough rocks, roots and difficult hills. It was my first time mountain biking, and despite the slippery course after a light shower and the slow torture of my legs, I was hooked!

So there it is. My introduction to the great sport of mountain biking. And for a few years after that, it was a source of good friends and the time of my life.

After I graduated, I continued to ride now and again, but (very) unfortunately developed a case of tendonitis that has kept me from riding for the past year. After something about 6 months of frustration (and a bit of crying I must admit), I accepted reality and decided to let it heal. For a loooooong time.

Tonight was one of my first few (very slow) rides. I have only been riding once a week, and hoping to re-establish flexibility to the area and with the slow passage of time be able to ride as I once did.

See, cycling (now both road-riding and mountain) is one of those things that just did it for me. Something about the rhythmic cycling of the legs, the whirr of the wheels, and the zen-like concentration it took to keep a steady pace on a trail. It was powerfully meditative.

Not only that, but it was an easy way for me to make friends. It was a super-fun activity in which all skill levels could participate, and it didn't involve getting inebriated and staying out until the wee hours of the morning (although we did also do that more than a few times...)

I can't wait to get back into that. Now I just have to get my legs to cooperate with me. Or rather, I will cooperate with my legs and bring myself back up slowly. Then it will be an easy reaching of the zone, and perhaps I can make some new friends that share something in common.