RiggoReincarnated wrote:Humbling experience at morning bootcamp gym class I tried for the hell of it: when a Korean woman half your body-weight is paired to hold you while doing sprints with resistance stretch cords, and you feel like you're going to keel over after about 3 of them, while she is still going hardcore when its her turn to run pulling you like an ox. Just when I thought I was getting in decent shape as well - ass kicked both physically and mentally.
Nothing quite like getting out of your own head and getting a good taste of reality is there :-).
When I bought my road bike at the end of last June I went out for a shop ride at the invitation of the store owner. As soon as we got out of town I got dropped like a bad habit, and there were like fat ladies and old people in that group! It pissed me off so I started riding every day, grinding away and losing weight.
Fast forward to thanksgiving. I was 55lbs lighter and a whole lot fitter. went out for a big thanksgiving group ride - first time riding with others since I bought my bike. felt strong and I was riding with the b+ group which was averaging about 22mph on a 50 mile ride.
There was a chick, probably in her late 40s who got in front and kept the tempo high, and people started dropping off the back (I thought that was considered poor etiquette on a club ride? Idk). I was in survival mode. we hit a hill at about the 45 miles mark and she dropped the hammer! If I fell off the back of the group no way I would be able to catch back up so I turned myself inside out to stay on the wheel of the guy in front of me. I got tunnel vision really bad and wanted to throw up. But I held on! Out of over 20 riders in that group there was a small handful of us left at the end of the ride and I was one of them.
That was one hard woman. Months of working out 6 days a week and I got destroyed hanging on. And that was just a B group!
that stuff has a way of keeping things real. working out alone all the time, it's easy to become a legend in our own minds.
