My training started to wind down last Friday as it was necessary to give my legs a rest and time to heal before the real trip begins. Furthermore, I was pretty burnt out biking the same roads over and over again. My last ride was on Monday and it was only 25 miles long - the shortest training ride since January. That ride was one I've done more than a hundred times over the years. Spanish Point to Swizzle Inn to Trinity Church and back. These past couple of months, I have focused on long, steady rides. However, with this last ride, I allowed myself to really fly. It was great to see how much I had actually improved; I shaved eight minutes off my January time.
That last ride was also bittersweet as it was probably the last time I will bike in Bermuda. We will be moving to Amelia Island, Florida in June, and my bike will not be coming back to the island after the cross-country trip. While I am currently so tired of biking the same roads, the island and people are beautiful. I can't tell you how many times I have gotten shouts or waves of encouragement from road crews, pedestrians, taxi drivers and even tourists. I will especially miss biking in St. Georges and particularly St. Davids where the traffic is lighter and the pace of life is a bit slower. And now that the cruise ship season has begun again, I remember how much I'm going to miss chasing down the tourists riding scooters.
Apart from feeling much stronger on the bike, I have also lost weight and had a significant drop in my body fat percentage. You'd probably think that I would have lost a ton of weight after biking all of those miles, but I also ate like a horse. It is hard to train that much and diet at the same time. I'm definitely lighter and in much better shape than I was this time last year.
On Tuesday, the bike went to the shop for some last minute adjustments and to be boxed. I just picked it up. Tomorrow morning, I fly out to California.
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