If you have been tracking, you may have noticed that Chris either stopped riding a couple of days ago or has been taking a very. very. long rest on the trail...
I wanted to update you in case you have been kept in suspense (not you?) that it's the former.
I received a call from Chris Tuesday afternoon, after already climbing several mountain passes, saying that he "just wasn't feeling it". And let me tell you, coming from one who practically lives and breathes biking, I wasn't sure if it was indeed my husband who I was talking to on the other end of the line.
I was shocked and certainly puzzled at how to respond. After all, he has put months of training into this race including, quite literally, blood sweat and tears.
I felt a strange mix between, "I support you 100% in any decision you make" and "My a** your quitting! Now get back up on that bike, ride and don't call me until you've finished." I honestly was not sure which one he wanted or needed to hear at that moment. So I gave him a bit of both.
In the end, I respect him for deciding that while he was physically doing okay, his heart was not there on the mountains with him this time around. Wouldn't you agree that it's often times harder to quit than it is to keep on? That it takes more courage and more introspection to purposefully stop something you have worked so hard for? I know I do.
I know that coming home to dirty dishes, a clingy toddler and a wife who had not planned on cooking a single thing this week was not the great adventure he had planned, but it's the one that he ended up choosing.
And it makes me happy that he wasn't too proud to do so. Another reason why I love him.
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