The way down should hurt as much or more than the way up. Photo: Jared Gruber
The human mind is designed to forget how much things suck. That is a fact. If women had the capacity to retain meaningful data on how horrible things can be, there would be exactly zero families on the planet with more than one child. This has nothing to do with how wonderful children are; it has to do with how birthing a child is the most painful thing one can do in this life and live to tell the tale. Or so I’m told. But women happily bear a second or even a third child; with each labor a fresh-faced surprise at how much the birthing process blows on a visceral level.
On the other hand, we are very good at remembering how great things can be. Like sex. Which is an ironic counterpoint to the above paragraph. I swear I didn’t plan that. (I don’t “plan” any of my writing. I do this for fun.)
I ostensibly observe at this stage in the article-writing-process that maybe I should start planning some of my writing. Because this is going nowhere.
I am vocally quiet about my uneasiness with Strava from the perspective that it causes us to focus on doing good times on segments of our rides which is in conflict with the discipline required to Train Properly. That said, Strava can be a lot of fun in the sense that it provides a kind of passive-active competitive nature to Cycling. To that point, I have been riding with the group out of Hedrick Cycles in Greenwood, Seattle recently; the owner, Carson, is on a rampage to collect the KOM‘s on the local circuits.
KOM is an oxymoron because none of these targets are climbs; he is chasing after the descents.
Seattle has a lot of good descents hidden around, even within the metropolitan area. Mostly because it is a very hilly area to the extent that I can’t find a satisfactory “flat” route to spin on for a recovery day. Which means I’ve learned to “recover” on climbs. Which feels a little bit like bragging. You’re welcome.
As a non-GPS-using rider, I have been very happy to help Carson in his endeavor to bag some tags on the local descents as lead-out monkey and I have to admit it is one hell of a cortisol fix. The descents aren’t even about the KOM anymore, the whole group just attacks one another over and over again all the way down the descent until we reach a stalemate and we start to work together, burning ourselves out and rolling off the front like a worn-out banana peel.
Based on the opening paragraph of this article, I understand that the following claim is unprovable: these descents have put me further into the hurt locker than many climbs I’ve done, barring Haleakala.
Which brings to bear an important reminder: descents are not for recovery. They should hurt every bit as much as the climb, if not more. And if you misjudge a corner, it will hurt a lot more than the climb, possibly for a bit of a while because road rash sucks.
Ride hard on the way up; ride harder over the top, and ride like you stole something on the way down. That is all.
Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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Fabian Aru must read this site judging by today's stage finish!
Well, well, well. Too busy to check in yesterday. Was taking delivery of a timely gift from a fellow Follower. And they arrived on my birthday no less. Sadly, this was my first one without my beloved Prince. RIP.
Having held a leg and coached the birth of our first child four weeks ago, I am not going anywhere a 2nd one anytime soon...and I had the easy part. Yeesh, what a wild experience that was.
Teocalli - And Stevie K. should have read this a few weeks ago. Actually, he should have just chilled out and played it conservatively.
@ChrisO
Gas? As in nitrous? None of the local hospitals offer that. Think that along with a few other glaring things, this is somewhere the U.S. lags behind other modern nations.
@Teocalli
I'm liking the Fabu! Races with guts and panache and looks damn happy when he wins. I'm sick of watching Contador on a podium, only smiling when he does that tired, cliched pistolero move. I'll give Nibbles and Aru their due, those Scicilians know how to race.
@wiscot
Aru has an unfair advantage. He has the mouth of a goliath grouper. He's able to suck in probably 4x the air of a normal human. It's like doping, but with a mouth.
@chris
That's funny. When I saw that picture, the first thing I thought was, " Geez, that kid has style!" Great work.
"Ride hard on the way up; ride harder over the top, and ride like you stole something on the way down."
I was once stopped by the Po Po in the hills of the East Bay - right in the middle of a flaming hot descent - because they thought I was literally riding like I stole something. I felt bad for the poor guy in the back seat of the cop car who said "nah... not mine... let's keep looking," and kinda glad they were taking the time and effort to find a guy's stolen steed... but none of it was salve for my anger at being pulled over by a patrol car while in the best segment of a screaming descent. First, because it ruined a moment of La Volupte; and second, because it turned out they were NOT, in fact, pulling me over for speeding.
@Ron
Of course not! Who wouldn't rather bend a pregnant woman over and poke her in the spine with a 12 or 14G needle, right in that sub-millimeter space between the meninges and spinal chord? Duh!
@fignons barber
That's the young lady that took one look at your Cyfac and said, "I want that bike"! She's never read the rules. Doesn't know they exist. Yet, she lives/demonstrates them. She most certainly knows a cool bike when she sees one. Endeavors with special attn looking right for the job. And knows what it means about not getting easier just going faster. Though just maybe she likes her dog more than her bike…
She PR'd the TT btw tonight and promptly set a goal for one second better than my PR.
Meanwhile, a young man on our local high school Mtn Bike team I coach knocked off another one of my KOMs earlier today. Maybe the young dude just digs knocking off the coach's KOMs 'cause I swear he looks to be targeting 'em off one after another ?!? What a cool cat.
Cheers
@litvi
Yes nitrous - it's cheaper, easier to manage, less invasive, fewer risks and quicker to wear off. Very much the first choice unless you really want an epidural, although private hospitals tend to go more quickly for the epidural and caesarian options.