If you’ve been reading this blog for a while now, you know that I always try to be 100 per cent honest and let you know what is going on in my head, with my body, and my soul. Well, I have to say that some days it seems easier to gloss over reality and just write about how wonderful the bike is and how fortunate I feel to have this gift.

But honestly, this isn’t how I’ve been feeling these past few days. Nope, the past few days have been rough. Really rough. My body cracked on Friday and I literally couldn’t even will myself onto the bike. As you might know I’ve been dealing with an ulcerative colitis flare since May 19. (Yes a long time.) And finally this week the fatigue of battling through this, combined with a couple of long days, and some intense training rides – cracked me. Friday was tough. Really all I did was sleep. I wanted to ride but I just couldn’t. When I was awake I was in the bathroom – yes, this is really how it is.

I woke up Saturday telling myself that I would feel better and tried to get psyched up for my ride. I finally got on the bike by 10:00 (late for me…) and forced the pedals around. I told myself that if I felt like garbage after the 45 minute warm-up and 5 minutes of tempo, I would turn around and go home. Well, guess what? I felt pretty darn good during the tempo session. Good – time to get down to business and focus on the “meat” of my work-out. I got the ride done – not my best numbers, not my worst numbers, but it did feel good to have my body respond the way I wanted. The trade-off for this though was that the rest of the day was not that great. It was all I could do to drag myself to the grocery store and keep smiling.

I’m not telling you this to create a “pity party”. Quite the contrary – I want you to really look at your situation and consider how lucky you are. Just like you, I’m fortunate to be able to get out and ride my bike. There are so many people with ulcerative colitis, cancer, Crohn’s, etc. who would simply love to be able to even get out for a 10 minute spin on the bike. The body and mind are truly amazing – able to surmount pretty much any challenge there is – don’t forget this when you’re not feeling the bike – get out and ride for that person who can’t – it is amazing how great you’ll feel afterwards.

So, with all this said, it is time for me to get out for my ride. I had a great sleep last night. My energy levels are feeling pretty good. And lucky me I’ve got a three hour endurance ride on deck. Looking forward to working on my bike tan and checking out the country roads. Here’s hoping you can do the same.