Happy living in our stressful lives is all about organization. For instance, I like to sort the tasks first by priority and then group tasks of equal priority into buckets of minor priorities. Software developers creatively call this approach to organization a “bucket sort”. This helps break down what appears to be an insurmountable mess of work and separate it into consumable, understandable units.
Being the optimist that I am, after prioritizing, I start by sorting my activities into those which I would rather consume a cyanide tablet than tackle, and set a goal to work through those first. Once I’ve completed those, I feel a sense of accomplishment that helps build the morale needed to tackle the remaining items. Having completed the “cyanide” bucket, I feel better about tackling the “wrist-slitting” bucket and working my way gradually towards “beating myself to death with a rusty hammer“, which represents the least appealing of the tasks.
It’s all about using the momentum gained from the last activity to drive the next, which is also how I approach my training. It can be hard to find the motivation to remain disciplined in your training when the days are dark and wet; when your goals are many months away it is far too easy to find other priorities when there is nothing immediate towards which to drive. The training becomes erratic, and our progress is stunted. Without a clear plan, we react to our schedules and external demands rather than working around them; goals force us to prioritize our lives in a way that leads us towards success and the secret to Training Properly is to cascade your goals in a way that allows for steady progress that builds toward the greater objective.
However much we love Cycling, getting better at it requires routine hard work and suffering, an endeavor whose most reliable variation is marked by an unplanned visit from the Man with the Hammer and very few glimpses of his lovely wife, La Volupte. We need small successes to fuel our desire to climb back on the bike to continue The Work despite the cold rain lashing down. For the last year, my training has been focussed on the Heck of the North, which I will sadly be missing due to unforeseeable circumstances at work. Missing out on the opportunity to compete in Northern Minnesota finds me deflated and reluctant to get on the bike and suffer despite the excellent form I’m enjoying at the moment. But as one goal is passed by, another settles into focus, and my sights are already shifting around the bend towards the 2015 Keepers Tour, which will be returning to Belgium during the Cobbled Classics.
The days are shortening and the sun hangs low in the sky when it isn’t blocked out by a thick blanket of clouds. The morning mist keeps the roads damp and drives a chill into my bones. A few weeks ago, I was dreading the change. Today, I welcome it. The wet is coming, and I have my goal set. I look forward to tapping out my rhythm to the metronome of raindrops dripping from the brim of my cap.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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@Haldy I'm a big Terpstra fan and happy that he got a PR win but that finale was massisve demonstration of anti V. 10k from the line and the fucking who's who of Classics hardmen all together and not one of the fuckers tries to match Terpstra? What the!
We're on a different planet, it seems, when it comes to the weather - but at last I've seen temps dip under 20c at night and there are clouds out of my laboratory's windows, so it seems like by the end of the month arm-warmers will finally become mandatory equipment again. Oh-fucking-yeah!
I can unpack my revered and loved warmers, jerseys and gilets, the knee-warmers and belgian booties, the windproofs and the warm gloves. For a cyclist in the land of eternal summer, it seems I've amassed unbelievable amounts of Rule 9 gear. I guess that's just envy...
In Israel, when it rains it pours buckets, visibility is non-existant and the roads are flooded (and oily), which means I dare to ride a lot less than I should. Gran Fondos and other closed-road events in the winter? Sign me up! Group-rides with a blinking support car? Alright. But barring those, I can always get a quality turbo session with the VMH with wide-open windows looking outside.
Great article Frank - and just in time for the first few days of single digit degrees in Ireland. We have had an unusually warm September and I have been eyeing the arm/knee warmers wondering when they will come out.
Heading into my second proper year of cycling I have gotten a coach and set out a training plan with a view towards bossing my local club rides and stronger performances in next season's gran fondos.
I do take pleasure in making deposits in the V bank on cold wet December nights knowing I can draW doWn come the spring.
Sorry you can't make it to this Frank - there are upsides in that I'll finish a place higher on Saturday.
The beer here is surprisingly good by the way. The jet lag - not so much.
@ChrissyOne
I'll start the complaining right now. I was registered before work intervened . . . even my back up gravel ride is in jeopardy. First world problems, etc,. etc
@Frank As some have already commented, the article is wonderfully timed. Yesterdays ride in to work and back, NE UK was a reasonable 19c. This morning I was smuggling peanuts under the jersey in a fucking freezing 5c. Still, the sun was shining, the winds were low.
Frank, Haldy, please continue, but the Rule #9 image selected is 1988. Mostly inspired by Franco Chioccioli's effort to continue without gloves or a jacket. He paid a price that day but did not back down.
I look forward to the impending Michigan winter.....while most will have hung their bikes up hoping to dodge the Man with the Hammer, I will out there willing and ready to receive the punishment only he can bring. The commitment must be year round to avoid backsliding...the purifying effect of a bitterly cold winter morning amongst the calm and stillness is unmatched by any other season. There are rewards to be had but you gotta pay the piper...
@Cog Is there a temperature limit that you hit ?? 28 FËšuck is where it stops for me.
@Cog
so true - the treasures of cycling in the cold, silent darkness of winter are worth the price