Bikers Baby!

And no, I don't mean the guys with leather that have a motor under the hood, although I'm sure those motorcyclers are nice too. Here are some pictures for clarification:

Cool Bike

"Cool" Bike

I mean the people who wear the dorky, hardcore spandex and the plastic buckle helmets.

Like these Guys...note the packages...

 As someone who has been an athlete most of her life, I don't know how these people do it. Just watching the bicyclists on the Olympics or even just the students on the UCSD bike club makes me uncomfortable. First of all, I have a latex sensitivity so I would itch like mad, plus my body type doesn't really lend itself to a one-piece tight suit. But seriously, these guys have to be on their bikes ALL DAMN DAY to really get good at it. I could barely make it to school from just a couple of blocks away (damn you VA Hospital Hill)! I've never had the endurance to be a biker and the few times that I tried to make it a routine failed badly. I simply couldn't get better fast enough to stick with it. Yet these Olympic athletes will bike ALL DAY (yes, I said it again because it's ridiculous). It's probably one of the few Olympic sports were the athlete's event literally takes HOURS. You have to leave and come back later to find out the results!

My Mother and Stepfather trained all last year and then did an across-the-country bike trip from Spring-Summer this year. It took an amazing amount of planning and training. I can't believe they could really do something like that, but they made it! Biked the whole way! The sore muscles! My God, I can only image! It's no wonder that bikers have the lean muscle and trim bodies that they do! Hats or rather, helmets off to my Mom and Step-Dad! (To read more about their adventure, click here: http://wolfesride.blogspot.com/)

It's no small feat that human possess the mental fortitude to keep going and the muscle power to keep pedaling that far! I image that while we can do so much on our own, we must get some help from an outside power. A power to push through the pain and transform our bodies into serious machines. Bad-ass bikers make me believe in a greater, stronger power!