MIKE'S FIRST DAY OF TRAINING- PART 2

After a few miles of riding on a busy street, Mike made a right turn at an intersection, and that's when I noticed an uphill ride of about an 1/8 of a mile. Mike looked comfortable going into it but I noticed that he began struggling after roughly fifty meters. I began catching up to him, and when we were finally riding side by side, I glanced at him and caught a distressed look on his face that was soaking wet with sweat. He mentioned that he felt like stopping but I didn't want him to stop because we were only a few feet away from the peak, so I decided to pass him and take the lead to make sure that he pushes through it. Mike kept on pedaling, and although he was hurting, he continued on. His efforts did pay off because he victoriously made it to the top without stopping.

Luckily for Mike, he would catch a needed break, the next two miles would be easy riding because it's all downhill. I told him to shift up and to continue pedaling as he pleases. I continued to lead downhill but I would look back every minute or so to check if he's ok. Although I pulled on my brakes every now and then to make sure that I didn't get too far ahead of him, the distance between Mike and I would grow from a bike length to eventually around 150 meters as we rode further down the road. The bottom of the hill curves to the right, I followed the curve and stopped at an intersection to wait for Mike.

Mike showed up no longer than a minute. His face continued to be covered with sweat. I remember wondering if his thick, heavy jacket had anything to do with it. He said his chain came off during the latter part of the ride, so I guess I'll need to train him on how to shift gears properly. I told him that we have covered over six miles and that he needs to take the lead so that he could take us back to his house. He nodded and proceeded straight down the road.

We continued riding, making lefts and rights here and there. He then took us through a park that would lead straight to his house. At an intersection, one block away from his house, Mike stopped and told me that he'll need to walk his bike uphill because he's exhausted. He jumped off his bike and proceeded walking his bike uphill. I didn't want to leave him behind so I jumped off my bike and joined him.

When we got to his house, Mike was so tired that he said he felt like throwing up. He walked into his garage, leaned forward on what looked like a sink, and rested there for a while. A few minutes later, when he felt better, he began doing his stretches on the garage floor. He looked like he was happy to have survived the ride.

Mike completed 10 miles on his first day. That's four more miles than what we had planned and I am so proud to see him push through it. While I am truly happy to see him complete this ride, he has much more training to do to be in shape for competition. With only 14 weeks left until the event, Mike will need to stay the course in order to perform his personal best on the day of the triathlon.

Submitted by Joe Corpus