Cycling in the South Bay

My Garmin watch showed a new, alarming fitness status a couple of days ago, a bright red warning that said, “Overreaching.” It advised me to take it easy and recover.

It’s so weird to have a watch that knows you better than you do. My supposedly overreaching day involved 52 miles of riding over several hours with a loaded bike and pack. Sure, I was tired, but overreaching? And needing two days of recovery?

Rather than sneer and keep pushing, I headed for a motel and holed up for two days. I’m old. Four days of touring after four months of being relatively inactive is a massive shock to the system, and it doesn’t do any good to tell yourself “It’s not that hard” or “A couple of years ago this would have been NOTHIN’!”

I’ve seen lots of people try to ride themselves into shape on tour, and generally it either results in total failure or you overreach and spend the entire trip trying to recover from the first few days.

This morning my coach-watch-babysitter said I was ready to go. And right on cue, I feel totally fresh and recovered, champing at the bit for a beautiful ride down the azure coast. Technology is always right, I mean look: it says right there on my watch that I’ve already walked a thousand steps before getting out of bed.

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