Faster Together — Part II
If MidnightTrainFromGeorgia is the heart of my cycling, then the “Flock” is it’s soul. I stumbled into (or maybe I self-invited myself and they are too polite to tell me to bugger off) this group of cycling friends that strive to challenge themselves. We take hard pulls up hill and then stagger to hold on to the back of the bunch. We sprint for county line signs as if, to quote a member, “someone had tripped my mother.” Then soft pedal until we drop the hammer and do it all over again, have a beer or three and poke fun at each while at the same time complimenting the others’ effort.
In this past year, I’ve felt myself become a stronger, fitter cyclist. I’ve been stretched mentally and physically. There is little doubt that 9 out of 10 times I am the weakest rider of either gender rolling out. There have been rides where I’ve been dropped 3 times but came back for more. In so many ways, it’s the challenge I’d been looking for, and, perhaps, was afraid to find. Riding with these most excellent friends reminds me that I am also learning more about myself as a cyclist and a person.
There is a wonderful cycling blog called the Red Kite Prayer — an homage to the idea that the last kilometer of a bike race is marked with a red triangle or kite. The blog’s motto is, “To Suffer is To Learn,” and goodness knows that there have been many a ride with the Flock when I’ve been saying a silent prayer for my legs to deliver me to the last km.
Here’s a little peak at a recent ride — I named it Borderline because as I was finishing up, a car pulled up along side of me with said Madonna song blaring out the windows — which was awesome.
https://www.relive.cc/view/946835911
Riding in the Flock is rarely about being a cancer survivor — I’m just another wheel in the line, and I like it that way. I’ll speak in round terms about Pelotonia and what we are doing with MidnightTrainFromGeorgia to prepare. But I’d like to think I play down the cancer thing mostly because I just want to be ‘Charlie the Average Cyclist’ for a couple hours.
Of course inside my head, it’s always about being a cancer survivor. The two inform each other. I want those hard, on the rivet rides that challenge my physical and mental limits. Sometimes, I am fighting with the image of the stupid chair I would sit in for 5 hours getting my drip of meds. Other times, it is the thought of kids in the holding area of the radiation wing, and the notion that those could be my kids. Whatever the motivation, the big C, is going to be there in the background.
So why? Because turning myself inside out on a bike is my choice. Not an oncologist’s recommendation or a treatment protocol or anything else that Cancer made me do just for the chance to stay alive. So be on the lookout for more of these rides as I prep for Pelotonia 2017 — you can follow my progress at www. pelotonia.org/carabello1014 and of course donations are greatly appreciated, but so are social media ‘shares’.
Next up — the Best Worst Idea EVER on a bike. Bon Courage!
