Suffer

Suffering. If you have thrown a leg over a bike you know. It happens to every cyclist. If you say you have never suffered on a bike, then good on you, but just know that it could happen at anytime. It creeps up on you slowly and before you know it you have been transported to an alternate hellish universe, or it happens like a flick of the switch to turn off the lights. The lights go dim and the alarm bells signal that all is not well.

My first century I met suffering. I felt awesome, Cock of the walk baby, took monster pulls, had a bar a gel and drank. I did not eat, well I did, just not enough. Mile 80 the body started shutting down non-essential functions, brain -sorry we need more legs and lungs. Then the legs and lungs rebel, and your empty shell tries to turn the cranks. Every pedal stroke is a miracle. I did manage to make it to the finish. I would like to say that I reached down and dug deep to find that extra...whatever it is that people say. No, it was another cyclist that I had been riding with. He saw me drop, so he came back to shepard me the last 15-20 miles. I should have called sag, but just having someone else there kept me going.

Why would someone who doesn't know me, come to limp me back to the finish?

Misery loves company. If you have ever suffered on a bike, you know what it is and how it feels. That is why you pace someone in. You have been there. You will be there again. Someone will be there to pace you in.

Cycling is pain. Suffering goes beyond pain, it is an empty body, lights are out, no one is home. We feel pain climbing, bridging, time trialing, in a break, sprinting. To suffer eclipses all on the bike pain. Why do you do it? Because it feels so good when you stop.