The only thing worse than being two months from peaking and too fat to climb is being two months past peaking and in the middle of the season of rapid weight gain. At least with the former there is something to look forward to as you measure the incremental gains of your training as the almost daily rides of the season accumulate on your Strava profile. The latter can seem like a long dark tunnel that leads only to fat and slow. For those of us living in the Northern Hemisphere, on the tundra and ice-covered roads, with only 8 1/2 hours of daylight, a proper road ride and last season’s gains can seem like a distant dream. The juxtaposition of climbing well for your weight and expanding into a larger jersey size before your very own eyes is a cross the Velominatus must sometimes have to bear.
2012 was perhaps the best season I’ve ever had on a bike. It actually began on the trainer on New Year’s Day as I started training for the Keepers Tour. After returning from the trip of a lifetime riding the cobbles of Norther France and Belgium I was able to hold momentum at the start of the season at home. Next up was the Almanzo 100 in May, a very hard gravel race in which I was happy with my result. Then, the guys began gathering for our Tuesday group rides. On the whole, the group really got after it this year and we pushed each other to some great levels of fitness. Coupled with my almost daily solo rides, I was seeing progress early and often. Then the season was punctuated in September by a 15th placing in the Heck of the North, another gravel race. I had timed my peaks pretty well for an amateur and as my Strava numbers got bigger La Volupte and I had become closer acquaintances.
Then November happened. I hold about as much appreciation for November as I do for March in this part of the world. That is to say none. November and March are the shoulder seasons and the only time of year when running actually seems like a plausible way to stay fit. In November the Rule #11 chickens start coming home to roost, the roads can turn to shit and aren’t safe to ride, and graveling becomes an exercise in survival as half the month is slotted for deer hunting. Mates that haven’t been seen all summer start to wander into town again for Happy Hour beers at the local micro-brew. Food becomes laden with butter, chocolate, and carbs. This November was exacerbated by the fact that I went down for two solid weeks with a viral infection. I was so fucking sick I shit the bed one night. For Merckx’s Sake it took a lot of the V to recover from that one. Now I know how Thor must have felt about this year’s Spring Classics campaign. The only difference being my spring was better than his and my fall was his spring.
So let me have it. Tell me to Rule #5. Tell me to get out and ride my bike, set up the trainer, stop whinging. I probably deserve it after all this. I’m banking on the fact though that there are others like me out there. Others who have witnessed their own precipitous descension from peak form to shit in the matter of weeks. It really is incredible, the difference in how long it takes to build that form and how quickly it disappears. So please, grant me this one confession. Share your own despair if you like but then let’s move on. Let’s share in the fleeting catharsis that being a little bitch can offer and then begin the long, painful, and awesome slog back to the V together again.
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Two and a half month after my son was born right now. He actually slept through the night for the first time last night.
Time to look at losing that five kilo I've put on with the no riding regime. Yee har.
Yeah. This. Except, when the motivation is there, we will find a Way.
New job, no more mid-day rides. Haleakala in Vajanuary and KT2013 coming up hot after that. Peaking is in the rear-view mirror by a long ways.
So now I commute to work in the rain, in the dark, or in both. Usually in the cold. (By the way, riding at about 0C in the rain is about the coldest kind of riding you can do. Colder than that and its snow which stays dryish and warmer than that and it doesn't suck as much.)
I ride with a big, heavy backpack and it is still the best part of my day, except I wish I could get home in less than 1.5 hours because being home kicks more ass than not being home.
On the plus side, I'm staying kind of in shape and when I ride on the weekends, I feel like I'm 1/3 the weight I am during the week.
Interval training is tricky with a pack and a long commute, however, and interval training is awesome for your fitness. Must work it in. I do, on the other hand, have two 3-5 km climbs in one direction (home) and a 2km climb on the way home. Good for Haleakala prep.
@Marcus I hate you.
@Beers
No way.
So, you're saying that when I look at that fourth IPA and the last few ounces of single malt in the very bottom of the bottle and I cross myself and say "Vade retro, Satana!" I'm really just pissing in the wind?
Fuck.
In Adelaide we have the season when you need Gilet, arm warmers and long gloves, and the season when you don't. Road races are run 12 months of the year. The down side is there is no excuse for being Too fat to Climb!
Really though I honestly don't know how you guys in snow climates do it. I'd move.
@Blah
Lucky! Four and a half years here, still looking forward to that.
Rule 5 thinking can be employed till "the cows come home". Other things have conspired against the 'Cuda like neck injuries, second child and the ol' prostate issues.
With a bit of luck, some more rule 5 chanting and alot of sweat, then the increase in belt notches should hopefully be put on hold. My Ay-Ups, and interval training sessions on the road are my only hope, as im sure with others, my stationary trainer bores me shitless.
I like to "smell the roses" when riding and not pound away going no where.
Ahhh, for a consistent week whereby all the planets align and the V is high in the sky.
@PeakInTwoYears Rest in the knowledge that although they did not force your hand, the redman and the whiteman both wholeheartedly approve...
oh merckx burn my beer and cake filled jelliness with thine masterful pain, agony, and suffering
I managed to ride yesterday in the -9C in order to pick up my truck which was left behind the night before after a pitcher or 4 too many. I hurt, but it is a good hurt.
Here is another perspective. Here in Eastern PA there are no daylight hours that remain after a normal work day at this time of year (as is true for anyone living in the northern USA). Weekends are the only time available for any serious riding and that's dependent upon lack of other commitments. So indoor trainers, running, gym memberships, etc. are the only way to maintain some form of fitness. So the overall outlook is bleak, much like the season. However, we should all keep in mind that the stronger we ended the season, that quickly we recover what we lost come Spring. Incremental improvements: The key is to keep ending strongly...