Riding days…
Funny. My friend, Kristen, recently sent me this quote:
“Men are like parking spaces. The good ones are taken and the free ones are handicapped”.
I laughed at that.
This weekend I rode at the Bud Plant with a group of ATS folks. The group was doing 65-miles and I decided that would be a good distance to do.
Soon enough there was a split, with a faster-paced group flying on ahead. With my current level of fitness I knew I couldn’t maintain that kind of effort for another 3+ hours so I stayed at the same pace with 5 other guys.
I will definitely say that one of the nice things about being a woman in this sport is, since there are such fewer women than men, the women are usually well protected during rides. Certainly this depends on the men with whom we’re riding and how important their training day is, but I have rarely ever done a ride where the men don’t look out for me (or the other gals) in a very safety-conscious capacity. This day was no different… I was at the back of their pack for most of the miles, doing all I could to hang on in my very out-of-shape condition. Continually the guys looked back to be sure I was still there, and several times waited or looped back to pull me back to the group.
I always smile at this, how well taken care of the girls tend to be. For my part I’ll always try to keep the rides lively, and will predictably stroke their ego’s as a form of gratitude… “How lucky am I? Getting to ride with 5 handsome men??” I will sing (off key) and make jokes … I like to keep the press positive that the women in this sport are cool. We are! 
We rode for 3.5 hours and I don’t know if it was the heat or what, but I hadn’t struggled like that (aerobically) in a very long time. Not for a ride that short. The last 30:00 was a suffer-fest for me and I rolled my eyes at how out of shape I am right now. Nothing I can do about it but try to fix it, but man it is very humbling. I shook my head at how difficult this course seemed when it had never been too challenging in the past. Oye!
Nearing the end of the ride I yelled to my handsome chariot of men some thanks for riding with me. We all had a nice ride on a beautiful, sunny day.
I was stretching my painful back on the asphalt by my car when one of the guys came over to me and thanked me for riding with them. No, the thanks was mine – they all helped me so much, I replied. He then said, “It was great to get to meet you. I had heard how nice you are but today I got to see it for myself.”
I smiled at his comment as I drove home. Most of the time it’s weird for me to think that people even know who I am…. and it’s hard to know what the perception of me is, or how accurate people’s perception of me is. When I’m around others I am myself. I do not put on airs and graces, it is what it is that day. I always try to be nice, I am most often funny… but, like anyone, I have bad days, I unintentionally can put my foot in my mouth, I unknowingly can hurt feelings in an effort to be funny, and sometimes can seem stand-offish (when maybe I am just completely wiped out?). I try to be a positive, helpful person in our sport… but like all of us, I am human, too… and you never know what you’re really doing for people. As I continue to discern my future in this sport, and my impending retirement, I constantly call upon myself to ask if I’ll be leaving some small portion of triathlon a little better because I have been a part of it. ? If I can help make a ride more enjoyable for people, or help them survive the swim, or make them laugh before the start of a race to calm them down… if I can leave a positive mark – I will then feel I have done my best work.
I agree with Kristen. The good ones are taken and the leftover men are handicapped. That is hilarious.