monday motivation (lol)
Okay I won’t lie, the idea of getting involved with something cliche like #MondayMotivation makes me cringe a bit, but I’m trying to jump head first into a little accountability practice and the alliteration satisfies the writer in me — so here we are. I’m finally starting to fall in love with riding again.
I’m going to repeat that: I’m finally starting to fall in love with riding again.
I spent more time in the saddle this past week than I have in the last 6 months combined. I’ve lacked the motivation to get out and ride — especially since I ride solo pretty often. Whenever I think I’m going to get up and ride early before work or on the weekend if i’m not riding in a group, there’s always something that I can tell myself to pull the covers back up and sleep in. After the whole sleeping in thing, there’s always a litany of excuses as to why I’m not riding that day — oh there’s a soccer match on, hmmm it’s a bit warm now, maybe I should just sit outside and read — that list goes on and on.
So, I guess here’s the deal, every Monday I’m going to write up a little post that recaps my riding from the week before and how I’m feeling. There’s at least 3 of you that will read this, so if I miss one maybe y’all will text me to call me out. If nothing else, maybe a bit more routine over here will help me stay consistent and do more with this little project we call the sad velo cycling club. Without further ado, here’s my week in review:
SUNDAY JULY 17TH
Bikes N Bagels with goodr X HEDO out of the goodr Cabana. We do this ride the third Sunday of every month and it’s quickly become one of my favorite little groups of people. This Sunday we did a chill no-drop ride up to St. Mary’s and back. Just 20 miles with under a thousand feet of elevation gain. I felt good. I felt inspired to ride more throughout the week.
Can’t be a chill hour and fifteen minutes on a beautiful sunny LA morning.
WEDNESDAY JULY 20TH
I definitely woke up a bit later than I intended to, but I still got out on the bike which was the important thing. Mornings like this I tend to ride down to the LA River and pop into La Colombe for a little coffee and figure out where I feel like riding. This time, it’s my go-to stomping grounds in Griffith Park. Went around the backside past the zoo and up Trash Truck. As I climbed up TT, I decided today wasn’t the day to take the climb all the way to the top, so instead, I went straight down past the golf course and headed back to the LA River Bike Path. At this point, I was feeling pretty good and thought a few more miles wouldn’t hurt, so I skipped my turn and took a spin through Elysian Park back behind Dodger Stadium. I discovered this sweet little climb years ago on a Lazy Sunday ride with Team Dream Team. A solid little loop just under 25 miles. Easing back into it.
I used to climb Elysian in my big ring — working on getting back to that place.
FRIDAY JULY 22ND
Back to Griffith Park, but this time straight up to the top from the backside. This ride was a little special for a really simple reason. As I got to the top of Trash Truck and made the turn past the gate to keep climbing, I caught up to another rider. We were both grinding it out and said good morning to one another. The other rider asked how I was doing and I gave a somewhat sarcastic, “Oh, I’ll be a lot better once I get to the top.” to which he replied, “Well, you look good.” That was all I needed to hear — that kind comment from a stranger washed over me and I caught a wave of energy and rode it all the way to the top. My goal is to make it back up this climb in under 20 minutes — I know it’s possible, just have to stick with it. Big shoutout to my fellow rider hitting me with the positive reenforcement — sometimes even a simple wave or head is enough to keep the pedals turning over.
Another little 20 mile loop — this week, we’ll add a run to Elysian to the end and take it over 30.
SATURDAY JULY 23RD
Y’all know Bummerland. If you don’t, you should. Molly from Bummerland was celebrating a new sock launch, so I figured it was a good excuse to pack up that car and see what kind of riding Santa Barbara has to offer. We met up at the Boom Boom Bike Room, which fucking rules by the way, and little did I know the evening I’d be in store for. I haven’t ridden at night since I commuted every day living in Boston & Austin, so despite charging my lights up the night before, they’re 5 years old and don’t really hold a charge very well. Thankfully I brought some back-up. We climbed up Romero Canyon on some of the chunkiest rockiest gravel I’ve ever encountered and being the smart person that I am, I rode it on 32c slicks. 10/10 but would not recommend doing it again — really gotta build up that Lauf sitting in my garage.
21 miles and just over 3k of climbing with a fun pitch black descent — epic.
IN SUMMARY
Fuck it feels good to be back on my bike and enjoying just riding and being out there. 85 miles this week doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a major victory in my head. I’m slowly working toward getting back up to at least 100 miles per week — a place I haven’t been since the pandemic hit in 2020. What’s even better? We’re teaming up with BIKEgoodr, a bloc, and The Hub Cyclery for a weekly ride out of Highland Park on Saturday mornings — that’s right SADDERDAY RIDES ARE BECOMING A WEEKLY THING.
So come find me in the saddle out and about cruising through Los Angeles. Man I’ve missed this.
