I woke up this morning at 4:00 AM like I normally do… hit the snooze a time or two, until my wife yelled at me to stop it. HAHA I rolled out of bed, stretched, went downstairs made some steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins and did some pushups to wake up. Thus far it is pretty routine morning for me. But I got onto spark, doing my e-mails and sparkpoints when I read through a few of the MOD’s included on the e-mails. I love those things. Generally highly motivated individuals kicking butt and taking names.

Well I don’t remember her name, but the one I read this morning really motivated me. I loaded up the bike with my garment bag, which included my running shoes because Tuesdays are a run day for me), checked the tire pressure and headed up with a zip to my ride. This morning was very muggy and around 85 degrees at 5:00AM (welcome to Florida). But the sky was clear and there was a decent breeze.

At about mile 5 (which is past a few hills and the start of a nice level area of my ride) I noticed my average speed was 19 mph… hmmm that is two mph faster than my normal. Let’s kick it up a bit. I pushed my speed to 23 mph and felt great. I said to myself at this point “Let’s take advantage of this straight and kick it up some more. I was able to push to 26mph for about 5 miles. Keep in mind I do not have a race bike. I have a commuter designed to hold my 20lb bag on the rear rack while living through the rigors of biking to and from work on rough roads. An ultralight bike would not make it through the route I generally take. So after my sprint, I had a really good sweat going.

You know the sweat where you turn your head and a gallon of sweat slides off your face. Yeah!!! I had that going. I felt awesome and was coming to my gradual up-hill climb to work. I generally average between 15 and 17 mph through this area depending on wind and energy level.

Well my energy levels were an 11 on a scale to 1 to 10. I was not going to slow down. I was breathing so hard I felt like I was sprinting, but I was not going to stop. My legs were getting tired though, so I dropped a gear and upped my cadence to allow my legs to rest a little and let my heart and lungs take up the slack.

I finished my bike ride with a new record time. That is a double awesome accomplishment.

Accomplishment 1:
I beat my time!!! WHOO HOO!!! My previous time was 58 minutes 26 seconds to bike the 21 miles to work. I destroyed that time with 52 minutes 59 seconds

Accomplishment 2:
I beat the time with my garment bag full loaded. I carry with me a bike kit that includes two tire irons, a spare, a tube of bike chain lube, a multi tool, and an air pump, a shower toiletry bag, a shirt, pants, boxers, undershirt, belt, dress shoes, sunglasses, towel, iPad, wallet, cell, and as previously mentioned my running shoes. All that weight adds up. I have not weighed it, but I would guess the bag weighs 20 pounds, if not more. My previous record was without my commuter gear because I took two days of clothes the day before. So I was without bag!! This time I was fully loaded and still destroyed the record!!!! WHOO HOO!!!

I got to work and was still amped about the ride. I decided to run on the treadmill in the AM and will run again tonight. I did two miles and felt so great I averaged 8:45 per mile!!!

Point of the story, Sparkpeople can motivate you at times when you do not expect it. We all have the ability inside us. It is out minds that hinder us the most. Push past those mental fears and find your true limits. I leaned that this morning. Hopefully my mind will not fog my true limits again.