Cycle Ireland update!

As some of you may know, this month I started a cycling challenge.

We're also 56% of the way to the fundraising goal of 500 euro! Woohoooo.

Anyway, here's some bits and pieces I've learned on this challenge so far:

1. Cycling is the perfect time to hit that protein goal

I dunno if you've ever tried to choke down a protein shake, but it AIN'T FUN.

It reminds me of that silty stuff you find at the bottom of a lake - you know that premium, prehistoric dirt mix that gets stirred up as you walk through it? That's what I think about whenever that first splash of protein juice enters my mouth. GAG. 

Wanna know my thrilling discovery? 

I can drink a protein shake while cycling and it hardly even registers as being awful.

It's like my brain can only handle the texture if I'm being heavily distracted by other things, such as the burning agony in my lungs and legs.

Now it still tastes pretty bad, but I can get over that by simply *not breathing* (with this kind of genius advice, maybe I should become a life coach?).

Wanna know another fact? I'll chase that gritty vanilla gruel down with a sip of lemon MiWadi. It's actually nightmare fuel.

2. I'm becoming one of those weird bike people

I was chatting to my cousin's girlfriend about it. Her dad is "one of those crazies" who goes out on 100km cycles "for the craic" and has like six bikes scattered around the place.

Previously I would have recoiled in horror.

Now I wanted to see pictures. Badly. I can't even bring myself to put my road bike out in the garage because I like looking at it too much. 

I went on a date with an avid cyclist a few years back, when I had zero interest in cycling. Honestly I'm kicking myself now. We were pretty much the same build. Think of all those bikes we could have shared!

3. I have WAY too much thinking time when cycling 

And you better bet I'm using it to deduct obscure and pointless information.

I was listening to (my go-to) Big Bootie Mix by Two Friends. A snippet of a song appeared halfway through and I thought,

"Hey I recognise this! I'll Shazam that later because it's the bomb."

Of course, I then promptly forgot what volume I'd been listening to and what timestamp it was played at.

So over the course of the next week I cycled (figuratively and literally) through EVERY mix, of which there are 23 (each an hour long), just to find a couple of seconds of a song. 

Meanwhile, I was playing this song on the piano and it dawned on me that it could be a song I'd learned previously, in which case it would likely be tucked in a Spotify playlist for those songs. So I went through ALL OF THEM. Almost 40 hours of music. Albeit I didn't listen fully, just long enough to know if it was the right vibe.

Wasn't in there either.

Well damn, I thought, this is gonna fully take over my life until I figure it out.

Back on the bike, still going through the Bootie mixes. EVENTUALLY I found the right mix and let me tell you I celebrated like I'd just hit match point in Roland Garros. 

But it doesn't end there. Shazam of course couldn't figure it out because it's a mashup of more than one song. But I knew the other song was Taylor Swift, so I googled those lyrics (because I'm not actually a Swiftie and didn't know the song, gasp).

Found the song. Googled the breakdown of the BBM Volume and scrolled through every song until I found the Taylor Swift one and the song just previous to it. 

Spotified it and YES, this was the one.

BUT WAIT. There's more. I knew in my heart it wasn't the original song - it was a sample because in my head the song was played on strings and piano, this song only had the piano.

So off I went on another deep dive. Turns out Avicii sampled 'Perpetuum Mobile' in the song 'Fade into Darkness'

Perpetuum Mobile was composed in 1987 by Penguin Cafe Orchestra. THAT was the original, the one I knew.

Where in the hell I first heard that song I still don't know, but you can bet I'll spend my next few bike rides mulling it over.

Is this batshit crazy of me? Yeah, probably. Does it help my bike sessions pass in a blur? Definitely.

By the way, Perpetuum Mobile means a perpetually moving thing.

It's kind of a weird parallel that I'm stuck thinking about this song while cycling.

Life is strange. 

***

Anyway, that's the end of my rambling.

If you'd like to donate and help me reach my goal of 500 euro - thank you so much! I appreciate every single donation no mater the size, and I know for a fact it's all going to an amazing cause in Cian's Kennels. 

Here's the link :)

I'll update again when this challenge is completed - my final day of cycling is October 3rd.

Over and out,

L