I’m not sure where this ride falls on the graph of fitness but down towards the bottom, somewhere.
There can be a point in every rider’s season where each ride ends the same. FFS, I suck. The unabridged volume of self-loathing is reviewed, cogent chapters reread, aloud, in the bathroom. I’m Too Fat To Climb is a chapter I like to quote, chapter and verse.
Luckily stubbornness, the right amount of dumb and experience keep me from throwing my steed in a dumpster. None of us do walk away from our bikes because we have all gone through this, maybe every year. You keep going out, doing the rides, coming home to pull that damn book off the shelf. What happened? Life got in the way again.
We remember being good cyclists. We used to dance up those hills, a slow dance maybe but we danced. The bike and human were one, united in the pleasure and pain of covering vast amounts of ground. But now it’s just sweating, head down graceless riding, listening to friends disappear up the road as they merrily chat away.
Then without warning on a subsequent ride, it happens. Is it cooler? Do I have a tailwind? Did I double down on my espresso? What is going on here? This is the Ah-Ha ride; one of the best rides of the year. Bike would, if it could, be saying, where the hell have you been? There may be no fitness or grace going on yet but there they are, out there on the horizon. And they are getting a little closer. All I want is that signal from the body that improvement is possible. These pointless rides are not pointless. That psychic burden can float away; that idiot book can stay on the shelf. I am a cyclist.
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
You would think so, but that is slap bang in the middle of another busy period, hey ho. Someones got to feed the world, by the way it ain't me, who needs daffodils, potato chips or whisky after all.
@Gianni Hmmm. From greatest to least molasses effect, and noting that it varies, my guess is aerodynamics, core heat rejection, weight, freedom of motion, and time wasted adjusting layers. By "core heat rejection" I mean that many people, sometimes me, overdress on winter rides and end up running a bit hot and lugging around sweat drenched kit.
Worked the first rest stop at Gran Fondo Hincapie this morning. It started out 50 degrees and went to 70, which should have been arm and/or leg warmers soon stuffed into the jersey. With all the rest stops it's not like their pockets had much else. But no! Riders were told they could drop gear at the first stop. We ran out of bags in 10 minutes and had to buy more twice at a nearby grocery. Never seen so many overdressed riders.
The nice part of the "ah-ha" ride is that it gives you that boost to push even harder.
Having spent my 54th birthday on a 114km ride last Sunday and realising there were a few ah-ha moments, let me tell all you youngsters it does still happen, just less frequently (like other physical & pleasurable activities that are best left to my imagination).
I am reminded of a ride last year, Marlow Red kite ride if you are bothered, when I noticed a well-old geezer and his missus at the start. She had that well-worn look of someone who had seen her hubby off many a time at some stupid time in the morning on a ride, but there were still those gentle, subtle touches that showed she still cared and was quietly proud of him. Having struggled around the Century and threw myself on the ground with aching knees I slowly gained consciousness. Arriving about 45 mins after me was the old git, to be met by his frail wife (?) with a coat and cup of tea. It was only later, when I checked the results on-line and tried to convince myself that I hadn't done too bad that I noticed they were also tagged by age. A certain over-80 male, (well the only one) had got round in just over 7 hours. He was, and still is, my hero. If I can be still doing that in at least 26 years time I'll be so full of ah-ha it will frighten passers-by.
So, as we head into what passes as winter here on old London town, and I cuss the weather on my pathetically short commute to work I will have my ah-ha moments as I recall the well-hard geezer who could get off his boney arse on a damp September morning and really lay down the Vs. Just hope he got nut-deep in her that night as warm down. (or is it just me who thinks about pensioner sex?)
@markb Careful who you call youngster around here!
@markb
It WAS just you.
Now the rest of us have reluctantly - and without warning - joined in.
Talk about an ah-ha ride... though not exactly as meant by it here but my eyes were opened. Bunches of folks from town have been digging the state CX racing this fall so I slapped a rigid fork and some skinny tires on my old hard tail mtn bike and went racing. What a friggen blast! CX is hard core red line racing. I've had plenty of fun w/XC racing but you do get some moments of recovery. Not in CX. I'd have figured that whole business of jumping off and back on your bike after running with it was kinda strange. And it is. But still, it's a hoot. Fun scene. Yee hah. Cheers all.
@ChrisO
I'm with ya on this one... start late and happy curve of improvement. And thank lucky stars for the good health that comes with it.
@markb
Awwwww jeeeze, pensioner sex. I guess I should be proud that this has taken a dark turn on my watch. Beyond that, I don't know what to say right now.
@ChrisO
Thanks for the laugh that almost made the previous shock worthwhile.