Friday, March 25, 2011

Rest in peace

A cyclist friend passed away this morning, hit by a car while on the highway.

when you do these kind of sports, the circle of friend is large. many become people you know of, some people you Hi and Bye with, a few you hit off well. nevertheless, everybody is a friend.

i rode with him on many many saturdays, many many sundays, many many good long distance trips. last week, we chatted while going one uphill. always with his wife and son, a good leader and cyclist.

i didn't see how it happened. he was a good 500m behind me. it was bad, as witnessed by friends who were behind me. we were in shock. for the first time ever, nobody complained about the heat.

i keep remembering him the first time we met. my very first foray into this sport that i clearly love, this sport that have regained the top spot in my heart. he was the ride leader.

thanks for all the times riding together, rest in peace.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

It's March

it has been a while and I would like to say that life is not all about the Internet.

I had a good cardio today. When I say good it usually means either I was performing, or I was struggling. This morning, I was really struggling. Have not been exercising for a month or so due to work and personal commitments. I went to Turkmenistan for work last week. Suffice to say when it becomes my home for the next three years I'm going to have to work extra hard to keep fit.

Anyway this morning it was a good strength training workout that really made my legs feel the burn. Headwinds and hills, plus a little bit of rain are always a good combo. It was quite cold though, something I didn't really like. If it's going to be cloudy please make it comfortable, not chilly. There was no sun, which is good for the skin, but for me personally bad training-wise. For the first time in a long while the hills worked me. I felt the burn like a heartache. There were moments where I had to keep myself going. All this makes me better so I was not complaining.

It is really nice to know that this used to be a serious, tough workout for me. But after a slew of really epic distances, this feels like an easy saturday boo-hoo.

Yesterday at the strength training class the instructor worked me good. We focused on the large muscle groups, working specifically the core. I like that my body awareness is improving, and slowly my body is responding. We ended the set with a tough abwork that left me screaming Uncle!

Can't wait for my first official event soon.