Hello dear reader, it's been awhile...
That time of year has come once more where I have to hang up my cyclo-commuting for the year. My work schedule, which is affected by my wife's work schedule along with the available daylight in the morning or lack thereof is an equation whose result is that I drive to work until April.
Ah well.
I'd wanted to try and hit 4,000 miles by the end of this year, but that also won't occur. When the mileage required per week was calculated it was just not gonna happen.
A few weeks back I was hit with a very strange ailment. Out of nowhere my left IT band ached and by ached I mean it was for a normal person probably an 7 or 8 on the 10 point pain scale. For me, someone with a high pain threshold - once a podiatrist checked sensation in toes to determine how bad two broken toes were. When she got to the two broken ones and braced herself for a foot in the face, she wiggled the two broken ones and I didn't blink. Yes they were still busted and bruised, yes I felt her hand, but no she couldn't wiggle them enough for me to register more than a 2 or 3 at most.
Thus I finally broke down and had my hip checked. No broken bones and no typical IT band issue where it is rubbing on the knee. This was entirely localized to my hip. Stretching was the prescription for wellness. I also doubled my dose of Pure Vitamin Club Magnesium to help loosen things up. By the weekend I was able to hit the road on my bike.
I have a love & hate relationship with cycling. Maybe hate is too strong a word. I absolutely love riding my bike it is a sense of freedom like no other. And the suffering of slogging up a double digit grade and cresting it is a sense of accomplishment that is hard to achieve. Plus, let's face it going fast downhill and I mean 40s and low 50s mph on tires 23 millimeters wide is a thrill that is hard to beat.
To test out my hip to see how it was feeling, I planned out a 44 mile ride featuring rolling terrain and no big climbs whatsoever.
I was looking forward to the ride even if the forecast and the clouds the day of left me wondering if I might get rained on. Rolled out of my parents house so that my kids could be watched and my wife got some reprise. See - the key to riding lots if you have kids is to make sure you get them watched by someone other than your wife. Maybe one day soon I'll do a blog post on how I get so many miles ridden with three kids under 7...
My parents live in the same coastal Maine town I grew up in, they are about a mile from the ocean and my route took me along the beaches so I had to wrap up a bit given the cool temps. About 12 miles into the ride is when my mind told me to maybe bail on the ride and have someone come get me. I wasn't in pain, but the thought, the sheer thought of riding for another 32 miles at that point was what was eating at my mind.
There are days where I have to force myself to ride. I am not tired or fatiqued, I just am avoiding it. Sunny blue skies, perfect temps and wind are present and I don't feel like riding. I hem and haw and stall. Eventually on those days I do get out and within a few miles my mood changes and I am so glad I rode. This is how this goes every time.
It is rare I get the bail out thoughts though and I really had to fight them off that day.
It took me a few more miles, but I eventually did push those thoughts out of my head and enjoyed the rest of the ride.
All I can say is that if you have those thoughts, feelings etc, just push through them. It's one thing not to ride if you are sick. But if you are feeling unmotivated or stalling, just go and see if in a few miles whether or not your mood changes. As Nike says "Just do it" and I guarantee that you'll be feeling good.
........
Editor's Note: In proof reading this, it came across as a wicked bummer, but now I leave you dear reader on a bit of a high note...
In other news, I have opted to sign up for the 2018 Mt. Washington Auto Road Hill Climb. I'd previously said I would wait until my daughter was old enough to remember me doing it. Registration opened a few days ago and I saw it in my Facebook feed. For whatever reason something clicked and the thought of doing it 2x began to smolder.
An acquaintance of mine has won Mt. Washington and he thought it was a good idea to do 2018 as a practice, because life and the bike might never be perfect. As a parent I get that. There is "no real good time" to have kids. If you wait until life is perfect you might never have them. I also picked the brain of our guru - Vinnie. Vinnie liked the idea as well. As you know Vinnie is a cyclist and ultra endurance events are his thing. Whether Mt. Washington officially qualifies as an ultra endurance event, I do not know. Given it is 7 miles long, with a section at the end of 22% gravel and that most pros that have done it, just barely finish within an hour then yes at least in my mind it is an ultra.
Between now & January 1, I plan on dialing in my NSNG-ness. Over the last week I put a lot of Life into Living knowing that there was not a lot in my future. Although my birthday in January means I do have an appointment with Chinese food & cheesecake. As much as I might want to indulge from time to time, I know that having the race next year as an objective will be a good reminder to not partake of a treat.
The plan for now is to ease back into weight training, core/ stretching and running in zone 2 during the week and or ride z2 during the week and get a ride in on the weekend. Around 1 January schedule a consult with Vinnie to help dial in the gym work and talk fueling during the ride. Beginning in the spring sign up for a few hillclimb TTs and also drive up to my mother-in-laws house and ride the foothills of the white mountains to get hill work in. The skeleton of my training is there, but what Vinnie will help with is fleshing it out.
What I want most of all is to do a strong practice ride in 2018. Then in 2019 I want to win my age group. There I said it, that is the plan, win my age group. In order to accomplish this I will need to drop my weight to pre driver's license levels. In 2012 I got down to 185lbs and this time I will probably need to drop another 10 and get to a weight I have probably not seen since the 1980s.
I've already begun researching bike components. Mostly stuff like brakes, but from what I have seen and based on my beliefs when it comes to gear; a few grams are not worth the hundreds of dollars that they are saved for. Meaning, the brakes that are a few grams lighter than the SRAM Red ones I;d been looking at but are double the price probably won't get bought.
SRAM Red 22 will be installed in the spring. I went from Shimano Dura-Ace to SRAM Red in 2012 and could not see going back. IMHO SRAM just performs better overall. It also helps it is lighter than Dura-Ace. A co-worker runs the electronic Shimano and she has had issues galore with it. Given the electronic stuff is usually about the same weight but much more expensive than cabled - I am going with cables. Plus cables are easier to replace from what I have seen with her stuff.
I won't be upgrading the wheels next spring - unless I fall into a bucket of money. I have two different wheelsets in mind and will eventually just have to figure out which one is best and then pull the trigger.
The only other piece of gear I plan on getting eventually is the Castelli skinsuit. It's lighter and allegedly more comfortable because it is one piece. I am a bit confused about the sizing given my bibs & jersey sizes for Castelli are soo different. Phil Gaimon is using one on his Worst Retirement Ever series, which I highly recommend on YouTube.
So that's that, a big goal for next year is on tap and a consult with Vinnie in the near future.
Keep the rubber side down.
