It’s the ride you’ll do the most. The hardest ride you’ll ever do, too. You’ll do it so often that it should be easy, but it never is. Its frequency is such that it really should morph into all the other rides of its ilk, therefore negating the actual nexus of this necessary, evil ride. But it never does, it’s always stuck out there on its own, no matter what the duration between it and the next one is, could be months, could be only a week, but it’ll never leave, like that mate who stays for a couple of nights yet really should be paying rent after the first month, or at least offering a 20 for some food. This is the modus operandi of the First Ride Back.
As you get older, the FRB becomes more regular, unlike yourself. Jesus, my latest FRB really shouldn’t have qualified for its status at all, but such is the fickle nature of fitness at an ‘advanced’ age that just six days off the bike is enough to send one into panic, that the hard earned fitness is somehow leaving the body at a rate many times faster than it was acquired. Even with a pretty solid few months of riding under the belt, the effects of six days off, caused by an errant finger meeting a spinning disc rotor, sounded a death knell to me. A couple of opportunities came and went, adding to the mental mire as well as the (mainly perceived) physical one. Jumping back into the Tuesday night jaunt brought the daunt. Begging for hostilities to secede always falls on deaf ears, and plea bargaining for no hills is as well received as a stripper at Sunday school.
I recall reading an article by recently retired Baden Cooke some years ago where he spoke of his own FRB, an annual rather than weekly or monthly occurrence for him. Unlike mere mortals, he would no doubt have a pretty good base to draw upon, and even after a month or two off the bike (and probably partying hard as Cookie was known to do), he would still have the kind of condition most of us could only dream of. Yet he suffered the same mental and physical barriers as a normal rider does, but with a distinctly different approach, namely a 300km ‘hell ride’ from which he’d return some seven hours later with a sense that his season was now ready to start. A 50km jaunt with a couple of efforts thrown in seems almost laughable by comparison, but mirth never seems to enter the equation until the bike is racked and the celebratory beer is poured.
By the conclusion of the FRB, everything always seems much better, no matter how badly you’ve suffered, how far out the ass you were, what portion of your lungs you’ve coughed up. Just when you think you could take no more, the surVival instincts kick in and wring one, two, three last droplets of the Essence of V from within, and gives pride a swift kick up the ass for good measure. The next day you are renewed, and can’t wait to do it again.
Just not any longer than a week away, ok?
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
The thing I hate about the FRB is that your memory is of your prior form so you go out at that level and suffer accordingly.
I've had too many FRBs lately:
after 5 weeks off after a bike related back injury - the VMH kept dropping me for the first few Rides back;
after a week long conference with little exercise, too many carbo loading breakfasts, and too many malted recovery beverages;
Currently on 2.5 weeks holiday in Vietnam and Phuket, again with exercise, food and booze excess. The VMH is getting toey too and is currently out on a run (FRB), first time since November.
This one is a double negative because if we weren't here we'd be riding for a week following the TDU in Adelaide.
suffering will come at the end of the month.
Seems I've had several FRBs the last few months. Gussying up the house to sell, parting out 26 years of living there, settling in with the VMW, and winter with its shorter days. Sunday's ride felt like I had one lung due the cold I'm getting over. But still I look forward to those rides; many don't understand the way we cyclists welcome the pain and discomfort for the benefits they will bring.
@Rom
@Rom
You are aware there's a much more enjoyable solution to be found for that issue???
Buy a bike shop, they said. You'll ride a lot more, they said.
Now, every Saturday shop ride feels like a first ride back.
Still, I wouldn't trade it back for my old office job.
Ever.
Excellent. My FRB after cancer surgery last year was massively cathartic - expunged the cloud of doubt and doom. If only the fitness had not declined so drastically and swiftly.
@Teocalli
As a bit of 1954 cyclocross newsreel demonstrates:
@withoutanyhills
A fellow sufferer! Broke my hip on 29th Dec coming off on ice. Really struggling mentally with the inactivity and the long road to even getting on a bike again, let alone being fit. Desperately fighting the urge to move faster than the medical advice.
I wish you the very best.
@turbozombie must be something about the 29th as that was when I broke mine!! Although they told me the other day day that mine was actually only about 85% broken which may explain why it am now thankfully only on one crutch and have been given the all clear to get the turbo trainer out - although it is still bloody sore and will be so for another few weeks they said whilst the inflation from the op goes down. Still a while before I can actually get out on the bike though. I share your frustration of immobility. Wishing you all the best and a speedy recovery
For those in the northern hemisphere on their FRBs, I believe it is an established fact that cold air is denser than warm air, therefore there is a good excuse to look at your post-ride data and wonder why you were going slow - it was simply harder to go fast because of air density. Take comfort where you can guys, take it where you can . . .
@Boltzmann
Wow, Glad you were able to have a FRB. Stay well and keep the rubber side down!