Many of us cyclist don’t go out on the bike for under an hour, at a minimum. What’s the point? It is barely a ride if it is not at least two hours on the bike. I need half an hour to convince myself maybe I do feel OK. After an hour, the first queries can go down to the engine room, is everything good down there? Some people feel better as the ride progresses, some don’t. The ones who say they really start to feel unblocked after five hours, I hate them. @GogglesPizano weighs in on hour number three.
Ride to live and live to ride, Gianni
I have always ridden bikes and as I expect is the case for most of us here I can perfectly describe every detail of every bicycle I have ever owned, starting from cruising the neigbourhood on my blue CCM Swinger in my younger years then moving on to through my Kuwahara BMX then onto some real bikes. Biking was just what I did – every day.
Things changed though roughly 25 years ago in my late teens when on one spring afternoon I hauled my Father’s blue Raleigh Record 10-speed out of the shed and hit the highway for the first time with the sole motivation to ride my bike far and ride fast. I had been running cross-country in high school so I had a pretty solid aerobic base and the start of a decent set of guns. I remember a couple of things about that ride very vividly, the first being that I felt like I wanted to go on forever the second being that all I wanted to do was eat when I got home and finally I made my mother drive the route right after to figure out how far I went (she got tired of doing that after about the 2nd time). Within a month or two I had purchased myself a stunning blue Trek1000 and began to ride more and more approaching the century distance fairly quickly. I never quite fully understood my connection to the ride during these years but I knew it was there and it was strong.
Fast-forward to the present. There is something that I have learned to love more than anything else about riding. For me I long for the 3rd hour of the ride; I can’t really describe it fully but I will try.
What is so special about this 3rd hour? On longer days for me the first hour or two is usually about settling in, letting it warm up a bit, let the breakfast and coffee dissipate and clear the head of all of the challenges of the week. Then as I enter the third hour a few things start to happen, the endorphins are starting to really kick in, I know if I am on or off for the day, the temperature is warming up, the aches are loosened up, all of the Anti-V is clear out of the way and usually I am also as far out from home as I will get on my ride. This for me is my happy place, it is where I want to be – always. The ache is slowly beginning to build in the legs, the hunger is starting but I still have lots left in the tank. Occasionally I may catch glimpses of The Man with the Hammer but the 3rd hour is not where he tends to show up, and usually at this point I still think I can outride him. Don’t get me wrong – I love the latter hours of the rides and the sensations that come along but for me I will always long for that way I feel in that 3rd hour.
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@GogglesPizano
My wife is well familiar with how good exercise is for my silly head. I'm lucky to have a boss who runs marathons, (one of a small group of folk who has run one on every continent, including Antarctica) and he gets it too. On one occasion after a very distressing case, he actually instructed me to come in late the next day on the understanding that I ride for at least a couple of hours in lieu.
Nice! This is a great one, Goggles.
Love a long weekend ride. I'm usually rolling back in when most folks are just waking up. I can't help but think of all I've fit in, seen, experienced, and ENJOYED while they were still in the stack.
Three hour rides are where it's at!!
It's been said above, but I don't understand the hate on hour rides. If I only have an hour, isn't it better that I'm on the bike than on the couch? Even an hour before work puts my mind in a good place for the whole day.
Surely, three hour rides are glorious, but they are built by riding whenever and for however long we can.
@Owen
I don't think anyone hates them, and as you say anything is better than nothing, but we find you need to hit the groove & get into the rhythm. This usually happens after a couple of hours when you suddenly realise you haven't had a conscious thought for a long time, just the spin on the wheels, the smell of that field a couple of miles back and the cute bum of the one of girls you overtook going up the last hill. Then you take a corner wrong and end up on your arse with a nasty case of gravel rash and a couple of broken spokes.
Or is that just me?
Great piece! I can totally relate. If time is a (limiting) factor, I have a standard 50kms loop. Takes less than 2 hours and I've done it so often I know every inch of road. For me it is my most basic ride on the road. Afterwards, I'm not tired but I have the comfort of doing a decent ride.Usually one bottle and no food is eaten save an emergency gel.
I then have an 80kms loop which takes me into that 3rd hour. The game changes. Two bottles, one gel usually consumed. More time needed, more energy needed. More commitment. From there it's going for 100kms or 120 kms.The 3rd hour is the hour of transition from getting a ride in to getting out to ride.
With the days being so short in New England now, I'm lucky to get in 90 minutes on a long lunch break (one of the perks of working from home). Weekends are often full of Anti-V distractions (though I lost half of my day yesterday to brewing a recovery ale). I'm dreading this winter more than most and predict an unfavorable change in my power:weight ratio come spring...
@markb Fair enough. Good to have some elder Velominati around to set us straight.
I was half way though the 3rd hour of a frosty MTB ride this morning and that is when I start to sometimes either come alive or flounder, depending on the world thoughts that swirl around me on any given day.
Today I called down to the engine room and Scotty quickly responded "your getting all your going to get today"
For the first time in quite sometime I found myself slumming at the back of the group hanging on.
Bad to the point that a few times they soft pedaled a few times so that I could catch on
WTF, I was humbled considering I am one of the guys who usually pushes the pace
A bad ride is better than no ride, oh well
@Roger this is a sign that your body is giving you... Maybe just the warp drive needs a rest, maybe your about to come down with a virus (have you been hanging out with @xyxax?) or worst of all you need time off...
FFS it is now winter in NE and there is no need to kill it until January unless you are going to do Bucks little jaunt across ME-NH-VT in June? If so stop whining and get out there more.
Come pay me a visit and take one of my Mojito training rides!
Good one, I like the thought processes.
My third hour is generally near the end due to time pressures more than anything else.
Also time to start looking for the ever elusive "third place"
Great string of articles over the last coupla days.