The Terrible Two is a very hilly double century run by the Santa Rosa Cycling Club. Its main hills are Trinity, Geysers, Skaggs, Rancheria grade, and Fort Ross. The climbs are double peaked, steep, exposed and hot and the descents are dangerous and scary. I plan on walking the Rancheria grade next time I do it. I really have no business signing up for this ride. I have only a slim chance of making the strict time cut at lunch at mile 110. However, at the end of last year, I was feeling slightly cocky, riding a little faster than normal, and I decided to give the Terrible Two a try. I figured that if I had a good day and it was not too hot, I might make the 110 mile cut-off. I thought my chances to be about 10-20 percent and I decided I might as well try. If I had a really good day, I might hit the mark and it is a lovely route, beautiful really, if you ignore all the climbing and you do it over a couple of days- instead of one.
However, my training has been totally inadequate and I am now simply finding the idea of training for the Terrible Two just stressful. I am worried and not happy. Biking is supposed to be fun. I am not big on planning. I don’t really make goals or make plans. I just go along, doing what I want and sometimes things work out and sometimes they don’t. I believe this will be one of the not-working-out incidents.
Since December, I have had 7 weeks off the bike. Two of the off-bike weeks were a planned vacation to France and I just got back from this trip. The other 5 weeks were due to 2 separate bad colds and a very mild back spasm. Each event was not very significant, but each was a small step backwards, getting a tad slower after each and taking about a week after each illness to get back onto the swing of cycling. I am just a little slower than I used to be and doing the Terrible Two no longer seems to be an option. I hate the idea of spending the next 4 weeks training for this ride with the specter of likely failure haunting each pedal stroke, so I am not going to train for it. I will start it, since I have already paid my dues and Jason says he will ride with me, but I not training for it anymore. I will do the rides I want to do and maybe it will work out, but more likely, it won’t .
Not in training: Me, by the Seine in Paris
On your wheel 