R16 11 Steven Weighs In

Hello there HalfTheRice Land! It is me, Steven. I have definitely not been pulling my weight enough around here. Life is busy and right now all of my writing juju is going towards my research. Normie has been doing an awesome job of recounting our adventures, and she remembers WAY more than I ever do. But, I thought I would take a moment to weigh in on what has happened so far.

1) The picture has been painted. Normie has already alluded to my stubborn don't-take-no-from-anybody attitude about this trip and has mentioned that I spent a bit of time out in front of her. However, it wasn't that easy. I was scared...and intimidated. Normie had bagged it before and I WAS RIDING A FREAKING CYCLOCROSS BIKE WITH A RIGGED UP RACK! I had no idea how hard it was going to be and was freaking out the night before. But...I was bound and determined to enjoy this time with my buddy and I knew she wasn't totally loving the idea of the #rideout itself (but was also excited to spend time with me). Did you follow all that? So, I put on my game face and attacked the #rideout with the same "this is the last time we can..." gusto as our senior year in high school.

I am not sure if Normie already shared this picture -- but I snapped it as I was packing and repacking my gear into my never-before-used panniers. I was trying so hard to get it balanced and to get it right, but was so nervous about riding the next day. I couldn't believe how much "stuff" I felt like I had. I had streamlined over and over...and still felt like I had a ton of crap! I also needed to make sure that my new speaker sat nicely on the top of my rack. I finally got to reuse the net-bungy from back in my pumping on RAGBRAI days. I definitely didn't want to fiddle fuck the next morning...little did I know that this was only the beginning of me establishing a bagger system.

2) Trail curviness and the Ride to Nowhere Memories. The next morning we headed out on some trail. I never remember the names of trails and I quickly settled into just mindlessly following Normie -- you know, except for the blood-pressure raising sections where I had to traverse my cyclocross bike (bonus!) through several inches of slippery mud. We curved and snaked our way through Clive (Urbandale? West Des Moines? Hell if I know.) and pretty soon my hips were aching like mad. I instantly recognized the feeling from the 100 Miles of Nowhere a few years ago. Apparently, I don't do much cornering in my "training" rides, so my hips are the first to ache. I started to get a bit nervous about my early aches, but the trail quickly straightened out as we rode along some straight road that I don't remember the name of.

3) Let it gooooooo!

Like this...but sweatier and hotter and grosser.

After we got to Adel and split two cinnamon rolls, cleaned up a bit, and I tried to take a nervous poop ("do I have to poop? Maybe. Not really...but when will the next chance come? Oh no, what if I have to poop and there is no bathroom?"), we got back out on the trail. After passing some different roads (P52? Old Tractor Road? Gateway Drive? I really have no idea) we got on to actual roads and it felt like we really started riding. That is when it happened. It just clicked. I let go of my usual "how many miles do I have left? Will I make it? How fast am I going?" self and just submitted to the ride.

I was going to ride my bike. It was going to be hot. It was going to be hilly. I would ride my bike until I got where I was going. When it got hard...I could stop and rest. Or stand up and pump it out. Or go really slow. I had music. I had my buddy.

That's it. I let the rest go. I submitted to the ride. And it was so. much. fun.