Sunday, rain or shine, the Haleiwa Metric Century

@postaday 98; #postaday2011

Anticipation. I’ve been waiting to do this ride for more than a year. Since I blew out my Achilles tendon last February, I stayed at Kaiaka Park on Oahu’s northwestern shore with my two daughters while John joined the ride. The girls got a kick out of hanging out in the water, I took some great photos, and enjoyed watching a whale spout somewhere in the channel toward Kauai. I was wearing a boot and couldn’t go near the water. Saying I was frustrated is a bit of an understatement.

I’ve been training, as some of you who might read my weekend blog entries might already be aware. As much as I loathe hills, I’d do the two near my house as the first part of my ride and then push on to get some distance. I am probably better at hills, but my lungs don’t seem to feel like it’s getting any easier. I don’t really know how hilly this weekend’s ride will be. Last fall when we did the Honolulu Century, the climb past Valley of the Temples and up Kahekili Highway slammed me mentally, but somehow I made it. We all do, don’t we?

I am not a runner, despite my trying. I just can’t sustain that pounding, and my asthma doesn’t agree with it. If I could, I’d be a triathlete because I grew up a water baby on the swim team. Swimming laps is so boring though. Thank goodness I have bicycling. When I see people running, I think how lucky they are that they can run, but I also think how totally the best thing ever it is to be on a bicycle. It’s hard going up hills, but once I crest, I can fly down and mostly coast. A runner has to run down, and as I recall that can hurt.

Having never ridden Sunday’s route on a bicycle, I don’t know what to expect. For my regular weekend rides, I know just about every bump in the road. I know where the trash cans will be, that the parking along Kanau Street in Niu could be packed thanks to soccer practice or dog obedience training, I know there’s a dog on a second-floor lanai in Aina Haina, and I anticipate complete hairiness with the traffic from Kalani High School until I am safely on Kealaolu Street, alongside Waialae Country Club and on my way to Diamond Head Lookout. But Sunday’s surfaces and traffic and driveways will all be new to me, so I will probably be a little apprehensive from time to time.

I hope we can finish within a respectable time frame, have fun, be safe and survive. See you there? I’ll be #2 and John is #3.  Yes, that’s so cool I can’t get over it. Never again will we have numbers that low, LOL!