Most miserable ride ever! I had just received an email from the ride leader of a tour my husband and I are planning to do next month in which she explained that a good number of riders on the tour consider an AVERAGE speed of 14-15 mph on a hilly course to be a "leisurely" pace. (this was advertised as a "leisurely" tour at a "stop and smell the roses pace"! ) I had been feeling pretty confident about my riding skills and physical condition until then, but that e-mail destroyed my confidence. Hubby and I can manage 14-15 mph on rolling terrain, but that is nowhere near "leisurely" for us.

We decided to do a hilly ride from our house down to the Mukilteo ferry dock and back. The "down" part of the ride was terrifying for me. The feeling that I was "not good enough" really seemed to magnify my fear. I was holding onto the brakes for dear life and feeling very much out of control. I could tell hubby was trying not to get annoyed as he led me on some side streets which bypassed the scariest parts. The ride back up the hill started to go wrong when my chain fell off twice as I shifted into my granny gear. I was practically in tears as the @#$&^$#!!! chain fell off as I shifted UP and became so tangled up that hubby had to take off a chain ring to get it straightened out. My shifting was fine after that, but then hubby's chain started falling off! I think I've cursed him!

I felt like I was just such an idiot who had no business on a bike by then and the rest of the climb proceded at an agonizingly slow crawl. We did finally make it home after about a hundred years, averaging only 11 mph on a ride that was very hard, frustrating and demoralizing.

I guess it is better to experience these things now rather than on the tour so we can access our (my) weaknesses and work on them