It feels good being back in the saddle on my road bike this spring. While it hasn’t been a long cold winter, I do feel like it’s time for spring. Cycling is my life; it’s what my soul craves when I’m not doing it. I love riding all day and then lying around unable to muster enough energy to do anything else. I laid around all weekend when I wasn’t in the saddle. It was mentally and financially draining after last weekend’s race in Lewiston, Idaho.
The Devil’s Slide: Last weekend, I decided on Saturday to go to a race in Idaho. I hastily threw all my gear together and split around 1 pm. The drive was beautiful, even though it was treacherous due to a big rainstorm that pounded me all the way through Idaho. When I arrived, I found the campground that I had called earlier closed to tent sites (RVs only). Then, every time I decided to go for a pre-ride, it started downpouring.
Frustrated from not getting a ride in, I set up my tent in an RV spot and didn’t fill out the campground slip because there was no way I was paying for an RV spot when I was given bad information on the phone about tent space availability. I got it all set up in the pouring rain, and all that was left to do was to quickly throw in the bedding without getting it too wet. I searched the entire car and couldn’t find my sleeping bag. I had forgotten it.
Right then, I decided to drive back home and abandon the entire weekend. I drove around town for quite a while in a daze; my brain was fried. I finally stopped at the worst place ever… Burger King. Now thoroughly disgusted, I headed home.
I passed the Super 8 on highway 12 going back to Missoula and remembered that my friends were staying there. I decided to go and leave them a message about my disappearance. For some reason, I gave up the ghost and decided to use my credit card to spend the night there. I was absolutely done trying to navigate my emotions and the daunting task of driving 4 hours straight back home.
My friends showed up later that night, and we went out for some food. At that point, things started to look up. I decided to stick around the next day and watch them race.
The next day, the sun was out, and it was absolutely beautiful. I decided I wanted to ride. After riding the course, I decided that I wanted to race and headed to the registration table to spend the next week’s grocery money. My friends had saved my weekend, and with their help, I was able to race. The day before was a mess; I shouldn’t have gone to the race as I don’t have money to burn, and it seemed as though it would bite me in the ass. It didn’t, and the weekend turned out fantastic. I got 3rd place, as well as two of my other friends.
Week of Rest: It took a week of resting before cycling had re-entered my soul. All I could think about was getting on my bike and riding all day. I planned some future races and was glad to find out that there was a Montana Series in the works this year. This weekend, I went road riding both days and laid around the house when it was hailing, raining, or nighttime. Yesterday, I went out for a great 67-mile ride to the Nine Mile Valley and back. The entire ride took me 4 hours, and after, I laid in the sun in the front yard. What a weekend! That is what life is all about.
So now it’s back to the grind. There is a race next weekend that I want to do, but I don’t have the cash for it yet. But I don’t care; it’s spring and a new riding season. Isn’t that exciting?
Boneshakerbike 
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