Weekend Of Fun?

It should have been, except that I was on call for work.  It started out okay though.  I was home alone for a while on Friday night, and I had a chance to relax some.

I did end up having to work a little bit, but it wasn’t a big deal (I did everything remotely.)  The next day, Spring weather was in full effect.  I was happy (and not missing Florida anymore), but having to stay in town in case work called I meant that I couldn’t plan any good mountain bike rides.  So instead I rode inside at Total Cyclist.

It was better than nothing.  In fact, it was quite good.  I worked hard, and when it was all over I felt like I’d done something with my day.  I felt like I deserved a reward, so once I got cleaned up I headed over to Kickstand Charlotte for a big fat burger.

And of course a beer.

It’s not real exciting, I know.  I enjoyed it.

I spent the rest of the day washing the winter sludge off of our vehicles in the spring-like conditions.  I wished I’d taken a trip to the mountains, but it wasn’t gonna happen.  It’s been too long since I’ve been in the dirt here in North Carolina.  That needs to change soon. 

At least I was on a bike and the weather is nice I guess.

More "excitement" tomorrow.

Not So Serious

I’m putting in a lot of  “training” time on the bike.  I mean, I guess you can call it training.  I’m just trying to get a little bit better and I’m hoping to suffer a little bit less when I go out to race or even go on group rides in the hills.  I’m back in TotalCyclist for the second Winter Training Series, but this time I’ve gone all in.  In addition to my early Tuesday morning class (like today Tuesday), I’ve also started classes on Saturdays, which consists of indoor training rides while watching videos from The Sufferfest.

It’s been, uh, fun.

Riding on a trainer sucks, but for some reason doing it in this new (to me) environment is pretty fun.  It’s difficult, only because I’m pushing myself as hard as I can while I’m there.  I’m trying to get more than I pay for, and hoping that it pays off later in the year when (or if) I start racing.  Watching (or pretend racing) on a video course while I keep track of power, cadence, and other mystery data keeps me plenty interested, and it makes it feel a little less like training.  That’s the key for me.  I have to trick myself into working hard by pretending that I’m doing something fun but in this case I don’t have to pretend so much.

What the hell has happened to me?  Well, instead of being off the bike for days (sometime weeks) at a time due to weather, work etc. I can be sure to get in a few good “rides” to keep up or even increase my fitness.  I don’t plan to be some superstar bike rider when it’s all said and done, but I am hoping to see some sort of improvement.

Besides, it’s not like I’m gonna stop drinking beer and being the party guy.  I’m just gonna do it in a different way now.

Work hard.  Play hard.  That phrase is sure to mean something to someone, somewhere.  Maybe it will apply to me from now on.

Maybe I’m just full of shit.

One Of The Good Days

Not today, I have to work.  But yesterday I didn’t.  I still woke up early, since I had a class scheduled at TotalCyclist.  While I normally don’t like getting up early when I don’t have to go to work, I actually felt motivated enough to rise before the sun.  For some reason, the Winter Training Series is pretty fun.

Well, “fun” as in suffering.  I think I like to suffer, or at least I’m starting to like it again.  Starting off my day with a ride is pretty awesome, even if it is on a trainer, staring at a screen full of numbers and charts.  And you know what?  I dig it.  A lot.  I’m not sure how much of an effect it’s having yet, but I feel good when I’m in the class so that must count for something.  I’m really surprised that I like it so much, actually.

I do actually still ride my mountain bike too.  After an early morning ride, I had the day to myself.  I played my guitar, hung out with Carl, and watched a couple of shitty movies.  When the sun went down, I headed over to the whitewater park for our Tuesday Night Social.

It was rad.

Perfect weather, a fun ride with a good group of people, and sloppy Mexican food afterwards. 

Definitely a good day.

Signs Of Maturity

I’ve never really liked asking for help.  When I was younger, I either acted like I already knew everything (just to try and quickly figure it out later) or I pretended like I didn’t give a shit about whatever it was in the first place.  As I started getting up there in years, that happened less and less.  With The Internets around, it became easier to learn stuff on the fly.  I would learn just enough to not seem like a dumbass, and then solicit answers to the details from my peers.  While this approach seemed a little unorthodox, it worked quite a bit.  Looking back though, it was mostly luck.  Just gather a little bit of knowledge, ask around like I already had the answers, then point myself in that direction. 

Still, asking a real person to teach me something from the beginning was something I wasn’t ready to admit I needed.

The guitar is the perfect example.  I bought an acoustic about twelve years ago and said, “I’ll teach myself to play.”  I wasn’t about to pay someone to teach me, especially since I could buy books and videos that would work “just as well.”  This was before all those “Teach Yourself To Play” videos started popping up on YouTube.  Guess what?  That shit didn’t work.

I would pick it up, try for about ten minutes, and put it away for a month.  This continued for years, until the little lady threatened to buy me lessons.  I quickly taught myself one song, because I sure as shit didn’t want to go to class not knowing a damn thing.  When I showed up for my first lesson, I was nervous.  I thought, “Why did I wait until I was in my forties to get lessons?  The instructor is gonna make fun of me.”

Well, he didn’t.

Almost a year later, I can actually play.  I was put at ease on the very first lesson, where I learned first and foremost that it’s okay to be a student at my (advanced) age.  I likened the lessons to my bike riding, knowing that I would have to put in the work if I wanted to actually get good at it.  I practice the guitar, but I never really “practiced” riding my bike.  I just got better at it uh, accidentally.

I rode for quite a few years in Florida before we moved here to NC.  The change in terrain immediately made me a better rider.  More climbing, rocks, and changes in the weather had me working harder but I didn’t realize it.  Once I started racing, I sorta learned as I went.  After a year, I started seeing some success.  A few podium trips every year, some huge fitness gains, and my skill level skyrocketed.  All by accident, since I wasn’t on any sort of training plan. 

Racing my way into shape every season eventually took its toll on me.  I became burned out, and took this year off (mostly) to just have some fun.  The truth is though, it was a cop out.  I was being lazy.  Sure, I was having fun being the party guy, the heckler, the asshole, but pushing myself in a race was a good feeling that I had forgotten about.  The few times I did line up to race, it hurt so bad that it didn’t feel like fun.  “Maybe I’m not a racer”, I thought.  “Maybe I just want to ride for fun.”

Well, racing was fun to me.  And all this “fun” riding I’ve been doing hasn’t been very fun anyway since it’s been full of suffering.  Being in not so great shape due to a lack of competition made those leisurely rides tougher, and something I loved to do was starting to be a chore.  Well, in my old age I realized that it’s okay to ask for help.  You know to at least get me back to where I was (or close, anyway.)

So, this past Tuesday I started on a new adventure:

Photo credit:  Chad Andrews

Yeah, that’s me.  The big, goofy dude up there in the middle.  I put my ego aside and asked for help, signing up for the TotalCyclist Winter Training Series.  A lot of my friends have done it (as well as the little lady), so I know it works.  Just like my guitar lessons though, I’ll get as much out of this as I put in it.  Even though I’ve been lazy this last year, I’ve never had an issue with being fast or strong (if I worked at it.)  I just can’t seem to put everything together.  I burn out quickly, and that makes the suffer factor even higher.  Even on short, fun rides. 

Do I expect to dominate races next season?  Hardly.  I do expect to improve though, and hopefully even my fun rides will benefit.  With just one class in (out of six), I can see that I’ve made the right decision.  It was fun, difficult, and very informative as far as my fitness goes.  Sure, I’m “training” now, but that doesn’t mean that the fun will stop.  I just needed to focus again.

Don’t worry, I’ll still be the asshole you all know and love.

I just need a little help.  Not with the asshole part, of course.  Maybe (hopefully) I’ll be a little bit better bike rider.