Daily Cycling Challenge - Update 6

OK, I'm back on the bike this week and gave myself an extra day off, due to the heavy dancing workload on Friday night. :-P On average a night of dancing I accumulate around 30,000 steps, and don't ask me how I manage this in one night I just know I'm knackered for a few days after.

So as the Monday ride rolled around I decided my legs still needed a little more recovery time and gave myself another day of rest. Oh, I felt sooo guilty yesterday but did manage 10,000 steps to compensate for my perceived laziness :-)

And even today I was thinking I'd take off one more day but knew this would quickly spiral into a habit, so I got back on my bike.

Now as DTube was really just a waste of my time I ditched the camera and associated editing and will just continue with a 30-minute post as the way to keep track of my journey.

Now I wasn't feeling great on the way to the start line, and the first hill took it out of me again, so I was thinking this is going to be another shit time.

And if I had listened to the doubts in my head it would have been, but I was mindful these were just thoughts and my body might respond differently.

So I put my head down and drove hard into the peddles.

The wheels began to turn faster and the breeze began to cool me down. Suddenly, my mindset changed and I started to believe in myself again.

Maybe I could post a decent time, and was going for it.

Until...

I reached the river crossing there was somebody squatting on the rock I needed to use to get across, and even though I had my bike on my shoulder and began to approach her it was only when I stood next to her, she noticed I was wanting to get past.

Again I had thoughts I had blown the time, but somehow we managed to squeeze two adults and bike onto the one rock and I hurried past.

Then back on the bike, I drove into the peddles again to make the first little hill as easy as possible, before my body could fiercely object.

The rest of the ride was slightly downhill, so I was able to push myself to the maximum.

And when I'd finished I was so glad I didn't need to go face to camera again because I was exhausted and could barely breathe.

But there was still a smile on my face because I hadn't only beaten my previous best time.

I had smashed it!

Yes, I managed 12 mins 41 secs and took nearly 1 minute off my best time so far. Woohoo!

But the moral of this story isn't one of success and achievement.

It's really about being mindful and knowing when to ignore those defeating thoughts that run around constantly inside out heads.

You never really know how something will play out unless you give it a try.

So I encourage you to say 'Yes' to something today and give it a go.

And maybe you might surprise yourself too!

Previous DTube videos of the course:-

Getting Serious about DTube - Daily Cycling Challenge #1

DTube - Daily Cycling Challenge Day 2

DTube - Daily Cycling Challenge Day 3

DTube - Daily Cycling Challenge Day 4 

DTube - Daily Cycling Challenge Day 5