Pushing the Limits: A Cycling Story

The capacity of the human body to keep going, to stretch its limits, to become stronger, and simply to do what needs to be done never ceases to amaze me. I experienced this very vividly yesterday during my weekly bike ride, in which I was more than a little too ambitious in what I could reasonably accomplish. In the end, I pushed myself far beyond what I thought were the limits of my physical endurance and finished what I started, resulting in no small amount of muscle soreness in my legs as well as a tremendous sense of amazement at my own accomplishment.

A little background: For the past two weeks, I've done a 35-mile round-trip course on the lovely, scenic Mt. Vernon trail, which follows the Potomac River from Roosevelt Island (near Georgetown) all the way to George Washington's majestic estate overlooking the river. This trail features gently undulating inclines and a few tougher hills, winding its way through wooded areas and past neighborhoods, nearly always with the river in-sight.

In my quest to be fit enough to ride 70 miles at the LiveStrong Challenge next month (see previous post), I decided to do a longer ride yesterday, this time along the mostly-flat Washington & Old Dominion trail (W&OD), which starts in south Arlington and extends out more than 40 miles northwest to Purcelville, VA.

My plan was to ride 45-50 miles. Instead, my friend and bona fide cyclist Julio--for whom a normal weekend ride is between 100 and 125 miles at a fast pace--and I went 86 miles, starting in the Ballston area of Arlington at about 7:15am, riding out to Purcelville where we had lunch, and returning to Ballston at 6pm. Yes, that's right: I rode my bike EIGHTY-SIX MILES yesterday! YIKES! Obviously, many breaks were involved (especially on the way back). Lots of Gatorade and Cliff bars were consumed. Many muscles were screaming in pain at more than one point during the day. And the scenery was glorious!

More than once, I wanted to stop and rest just a few miles after our last break. Frequently, my legs were so tired that I wasn't sure I could keep pedaling, no matter how slowly I went. However, seeing Julio's back ahead of me, usually much farther up the trail, motivated me not to stop and to push myself to go a little faster and work a little harder than I otherwise would have so that I could keep him in-view. At other times, when my legs were less tired and I felt more energetic, we would ride side-by-side at a reasonable clip. (For me it was a very decent clip, though it was the equivalent of a leisurely stroll for him.) And there were yet other stretches, when I was feeling particularly tired, when Julio rode closely in-front of me and let me "draft" him--meaning he absorbed the force of the head wind for both of us so that I didn't have to exert as much energy to keep up the pace. Truly, his presence, patience, and encouraging coaching made all the difference in my ability to complete this course.

I'm sure we can each extract myriad life lessons from this experience. The point I want to make here, though, is simply this: When the situation requires it, you can usually do much more than you think you can do. Our bodies are made of tougher stuff than we think, meant to be exercised and strong and fit. This isn't to say we should constantly push the boundaries of what is safe or healthy. But when we put them to the test, we realize that our capacity is much greater than we had imagined.