9am Sunday Jan 23
Just got back from a very normal ride. No real drama. I was awakened by the alarm. That is such a good thing because then I do not lie in bed waiting for it and thinking about all the terrible things that could happen to me out in the big bad Hotel Road biking. I did spend like 5 minutes searching for my glasses!! At least 3 times through all the areas of the small apartment. They where right where they should be, next to the computer BUT lenses down, ear piece up so that my brain was not identifying them as glasses. I enjoyed a Utube women’s national championship of Australia last night. It was complete 1 1/2 hour coverage. I jumped forward at the end. Last night for dinner I was at my favorite beer bar, El Estrada. I got them to put on the Bengals ?? NFL game. I did not stay for the end but it was a good game.
Anyway, morning ride was uneventful as I have said. I only saw 2 pelotons on the road. One after my stop at the Cancun sign. They were going reasonably slow. Not so slow I could stay with them but slow enough that I was motivated to chase the chase car and I kept their flashing lights in view for a good stretch. The second petaton passed while I was stopped at the blue statue. That group was also small, 8?. They did not turn but continued on probably for the airport or Porto Morales. They were confused seeing my bike with flashing lights resting against a pole on the side of the road. Did I need help? Was I someone very fast to be ahead of them? These are not questions they asked or at least not in English, just my interpretation of the conversation among themselves.
I was back to the apartment by 8:20. After posting this the next project is laundry. I am almost to the point where I can skip doing such and just race for the Friday exit but I do not have quiet enough under ware to allow for that. So I have ridden 6 real rides and one short bike path 10K yesterday. I am not at all sure about tomorrow. Just have to see what the mind says. It is very possible that it will fixate on disasters and I will do the 10K short or I might be allowed to get in another full 5:30am ride. In any event, my plan is a bus to Porto Morales. I am aiming to get to the brewery that is about 3K? further down the Playa Del Carma road. My idea is to take the ADO bus to Porto that drops one off on the main road about 1k from Porto. Then I will taxi down to the Brewery, spend an hour + there and then return to Porto for 1pm lunch restaurant opening. Our book club friends Maddy and Larry really liked Porto and I too love it. I’ll sit in the shade and bus back to Cancun in the later afternoon.
As I have said, in order to stay upright on my bike it seems to have become important for me to keep my conscious mind engaged in the riding. But I still manage to get in a little mind drifting. I think I am about at the end of my ride the Hotel Road without a chase car stage. One alternative would be to get in such good shape that I could stay with the chase cars that are available. This would have to be a year long project. Really double my riding time. Return to clipping in to the peddles so I can use the upstroke as well as the downstroke of my legs. My guess is that the above is not going to happen. So, how do I get a chase car that goes at my speed? Will Elite Cycle help me hire one? A women I road with years ago at Elite did exactly that. She provided her own car and they helped her hire a driver who stayed with her, and me! I will write to them and explore the subject. An even better solution would be if I brought my own driver with me! Rented a car. Bought a gum ball yellow whirly flasher to go on the top. Wonder who I could get to get up at 5am each morning and drive very slowly until after 8? Maybe just every other day?