If you look at it one way, I do have a bunch of (partially) valid excuses:

• My mom has been hospitalized since March and I’ve had to take some time to travel to Toronto to help my Dad out
• Every weekend when I should have been out riding I had all these social plans
• Work has been crazy and I’ve had to cancel some of my mid-day rides
• On some of my longer rides, one of my knees was giving me some serious pain

And just when I was starting to get a nice head of progress going and do some good distance rides, I got a cold. A chest cold – meaning that walking up the stairs was an exertion, let alone getting on the bike.  I was so irritated this weekend because the weather was gorgeous and all I wanted to do was get out there in the warm June sunshine and put 40-60 miles under me.

Last night I got extremely frustrated at the amount of riding I’ve done during this training season.  My vision had been rides every day of the week, short distances during work days and nice long rides during the weekends.  The results have been less than stellar, however – I figure I am probably 300 miles shy of where I wanted to be.  I questioned whether I would actually be able to complete the MS150 based on the amount of training I could do between now and the event.  In talking with Meredith about it last night, she talked me through what I was feeling and thinking.

In spite of my lack of confidence, I have to say with all seriousness that quitting was not an option.  I feel like quitting would let down not only everyone who believed in me, but more importantly would be letting down people with MS, the reason why I am riding to begin with.

At the end of the day, as much as I enjoy the training, enjoy the kind words and the encouragement I get, I don’t do this because of me or because of any honors or accolades I could get.  To tell the honest truth, if it wasn’t for the MS150 and the people suffering from MS that I am raising money for, I doubt I would have ever travelled more than 20 miles on a bike at any time.

I was thinking that as crappy as the rides can get, as much as my joints and back may hurt, as much as my thighs may feel like two concrete posts after a 70 miler, that at the end of the day this is something I choose to do.  People with MS don’t get to choose what they have to endure.  They can’t walk away from it.  They can’t make up an excuse.  They can’t wake up and say “You know what?  I don’t think I’m going to have MS today.”  And it may be corny but that’s why I ride.

I did 22 miles on the bike today and I’m doing 150 miles June 27-28, no matter what.