I walk away from social gatherings with an acute sense of accomplishment whenever I haven’t offended anyone and when my friends all stayed awake. I view myself as a bottle of wine that keeps getting better with age, but I’m slowly coming to grips with the notion that I am actually a bottle that may be corked. The great irony of life is that as we become more comfortable with who we are, we become more annoying to be around.
Fortunately, I enjoy being alone. I haven’t always felt that way, but my natural charm means I have had to cultivate a taste for it. That isn’t to say I don’t like being around others – quite the opposite – but being alone allows me the opportunity to reconnect with who I am. This is especially true when riding my bicycle. Riding alone, there is nothing to do but focus on the sensations of the ride: the wind in my face, the smells in the air, the sound of my tires as we hum along together, rider and bicycle.
Doing a long ride alone is an exercise of discipline. The little voices in your head may start quietly, but they build to crescendo inside your skull after a few hours of solitary suffering. The doors and patios on the cafés at the roadside start looking larger and more welcoming with every kilometer that passes under your tires. A point comes, on these long rides, at which Rule #5 becomes a matter of continuing on with the task; a determination to finish what you have begun.
We learn fundamental things about ourselves when we are alone in the Pain Cave, after we’ve dropped the flashlight and watched helplessly as it rolled off the shelf and into the void. Questions come knocking, and they won’t go away until you’ve dealt with them. This is when we grow, when we build confidence in the face of doubt.
We are lucky to find ourselves at crossroads where every direction leads to more suffering, where the direction we choose is irrelevant. The choice is simply to suffer or to go home. In a world where we have made a science of luxury, we Cyclists choose to suffer.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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@frank
Thank you Frank. Acknowledged and understood.
CNG
@PeakInTwoYears
My VMH loves to wear thin white Lycra, so my bunch rules are:
women can ride behind her except for K the gay woman,
men can't ride behind her except S the gay man.
So far it's not working at all.
@Squid101
Quite so. Shortly after, I was introduced to this community.
@ChrisO
I agree with you ChrisO, and lets face it you are muchos superior to moi, but being the opposite where I group ride with guys in the top 10 open class, and they slay me several times a week, my riding is getting stronger chasing while they are the ones having to wait. It has taken me from average joe to reasonably handy in only a few months.
On the topic of Han Solo, just this morning I did a pre-work 65k loop that usually do with the group. Didn't write any records, as usually chasing like it's a race. Solo you are riding based on how fast you can go, what your legs and lungs can take. It was a bit of a revelation, and I am happy with the result. It was a beautiful morning also...
@Rom
Enforcing rules is never simple (especially when they're your rules and no one else's). My advice: let her and K work it out between themselves. Don't ask me why I'm confident in saying this, because it's a long damn story, and I guarantee it's not the one you're supposing.
Oh, and this topic is missing something
Love love love being alone! I can sit alone in a cab of a machine for hours on end, with the radio off listening to the sounds of it working quite happily. Dont get me wrong I love a big party as much as the next man but am quite happy with suffering in a pit of loneliness when out on the bike, groups are either too fast or slow for me. I'll try and be sociable on the 21st for the rest of you boys.
PS I've just been to Flanders to a combine harvester factory, ok it wasn't cycling but its the first time I've been anywhere connected with the noble art and farming, 2 thumbs up! It looked a bit grey there as well, would have been good rule 9 weather on the cobbles in Brugge!
@Beers
Yes but where do you stand on this?
@Nate
Topical as fuck. Chapeau.
@Nate '77 my man, all the way...