I.C.E.

It is always good to have a contingency or In Case of Emergency (ICE) back up plan. Yesterday, I set out to do my long hilly ride with intentions of adding a climb up the east grade of Palomar mountain. I set off early, because it was forecast to be hot, hot, hot! I guess mother nature noted my complaints about the lack of summer we were having and decided to turn it up a few notches. At 8am I saw my reflection in a window I was passing and thought to myself, 'I look hot', and not metaphorically! Yup, it was going to be more of a mental training day than physical. Right from the start of the ride my back was tight and my left knee was not happy. Was this my bodies way of telling me even a racing mule can get old? Well, guaranteed I am going to experience soreness and tightness somewhere at Leadville, so better learn to deal with it now.

I.C.E. -love what you can find at convenience stores!

Luckily, for me, my friend P who had just completed the Death Ride (129 miles, 15,000ft of climbing)  told me that she got through it by staying in the moment, and taking some Advil. Usually, I don't recommend taking Advil while training but I am now a convert because it worked. The Flexall cream had a great cooling effect as well as helping with the tightness. I had to switch to plan B though, with a combination of the heat and the tightness I didn't want to push myself to injury by climbing the east grade. Plus, I didn't think that my friend Heidi who had told me to call if I needed anything meant, 'call if you are stupid and climb a mountain and then can't walk, let alone pedal home!'.  There was still plenty of climbing without the mountain.

On I soldiered, with my bottles filled with ice. At one point I stopped for a refill, of you guessed it, ice and I ran into another fellow cyclist. Turns out he is training for the Furnance 508 (508 miles, in death valley with 35,000ft of climbing). I love that there is always something more difficult and insane than what I am doing! Anyways, he had a thermometer on his fancy bike power meter, computer that read 104 degrees. Just another reason to not have one of those gadgets. I didn't need to know the number, I knew it was hot! I ended up riding his wheel all the way home, well, when I could stick to it. He was so nice, he waited for me a few times at the top of climbs, guess it is true that misery loves company!

Immediately post ride, I went and bought a bag of ice. The people at the store only gave me a few strange looks when I was hugging it to my body.

Time for an ICE bath!

Thankfully, I didn't need to call my I.C.E. person but I did need lots of ice. You can just imagine what song was going through my head for most of the day. Come on now sing along 'Ice, ice baby, too cold, Ice, ice baby, too cold, too cold, Ice, ice baby'.