MIND SET, FOCUS & ATTITUED

   Could some one please tell me why 3 days feels like 3 weeks of not bike riding.  Yes I am suffering, my legs are starting to whine and cry.   So let see how long this break actually last. Ha ha.    
Cycling is really all about Mind set, Focus & Attitude.
Sometimes I get up in the morning and I feel awful, sluggish and sloth like and I don't want to move.   But I know as soon as I get on the bike and get passed the 6 mile mark, all of a sudden the endorphin's really start to get to work and I feel great.  So in the morning I focus in on what I will feel later on.   And yeah sometimes I head out the door get past the 6 miles mark and I
           fell like shit, it happens.   Another day another ride. 

Cycling also entails listening to your body.  The more in tune you are with it the more you will be able to see how much further you can push your self.  When I do my rides I know exactly when by bodies says, ok, I've had enough or you didn't eat the right things.   Their is no sense pushing your self when your bodies telling you no.  And if you decide to push your self then be wary that you might hurt your self. 
 People always talk about being in tune with their bike and having all the gears and what not exactly this way
     and that way.  That is good, but part of the maintenance should also include your own health and body.
It's about fine tuning your bike, your health and your   body.   Their is no magic bullet that will allow every one to find the same health path.  Each person has to find it on their own, because our body are all that different.

 This is the way I look at it.  You have a completed puzzle in front of you. Each piece represents all the food choices you have at your disposal.  Instead of putting the pieces together were removing one piece at a time.   This is not a diet, it's called food modification.  Because we still eat what we want to.   
 Every thing we put into our mouth affect the riding a bike so much.  In the begging I never really put two and two together, but now I can't not keep from seeing it.   If you start out on a ride and don't give your self enough of the right fuel, you'll really suffer on the ride.  For example my hubby and I went to See's Candy to picked up a box of chocolate truffles for my mom's birthday.  Truffles who can resist free Truffles.  We both tried one. Just one mind you. Well we when to my mom's house bearing gifts and she would not let us get away with not trying one.  So we ended up eating 3 each and to top it off we did the (P) thing. PIZZA,  but hey it was her Birthday.    The next day those food-ish choices made Chris and I fell like crap on the bike.  Our body was like WFT did you just give me.    
Eating and cycling is really a balancing act and it's not as easy as one would think.  You have to eat enough to give your self energy to ride and when you get home make sure you keep your tank top off a bit, so your not stuffing your face when you open the refrigerator.  A long ride can turn you into a vacuum cleaner of food if your not careful.   For a two hour ride I can get by on water and 1/2 of a cliff bar and when I get home I'm not ravenous.   For very long rides over 20 miles, we will have a pasta meal with meat to give us that extra boost on the ride.   Anything under 20 we eat normally.  
Cycling is like a recipe and here is the ingredients to a good ride.

INGREDIENTS:
A Heaping cup of Mindset.
Loads of Focus
Great Attitude.
Healthy Food
1 or 2 bikes.
Heaps piles of routes to ride.
Cliff Bars With moderation.
Tire pump
1 Cycling Jersey

Method of Preparation: 
Mix all together and have a great ride.  :)