Strength can be a fickle thing this time of year, when the training isn’t as consistent as it should be; it comes and goes, sometimes several times in the span of a single ride or even a climb. Like a rosy-eyed dreamer I keep awakening as I train, thrown like a rag doll between a state nearing euphoria and one resembling purgatory.
My mind is what drives me as a Cyclist, it is what allows my to keep going despite the burning in my legs and lungs. It is what pushes me to leave the comfort of my home to climb aboard my bike when it is dark, cold, and rainy. But there are times when the legs won’t go or the body fails in some anomalous way when we are struck by the reality that we are but puppets, pushed and pulled by forces that exist outside outside the jurisdiction of our will.
Whether or not the body fails, the mind can still resist. It can resist easing back. It can resist turning around. It can resist turning the bars to steer away from the extra climbing loop. Giving in is the worst kind of weakness we have in Cycling. With time all the acute reasons why we want to quit will pass; the acid will flush from our muscles, the gasps for air will give way to steady breathing, the cold will leave our bodies. But quitting, and the doubt it cultivates can last much, much longer.
Quitting begets quitting. It wears down your confidence and makes you question yourself. It asks questions of you that you will struggle to answer when the 2am Ghosts of Lost Opportunities come calling. Worst of all, quitting gets easier the more you do it.
Before my rides, I will decide if it is to be a hard day or an easy day; whether I will do the extra loop with the big climbs or look for the flatter roads. Once on the ride, I will shut off the part of my mind that asks those questions and simply shut off the part of my mind that processes those considerations. I will not stop until I am done.
Our strength may be fickle, but our minds are steady.
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
@Mike_P
Agreed - the best way to get better is to ride with faster people than you.
@wiscot
We used to dream of having a basement. Our hovel sat on a bog. My da would dig a hole in the bog and put my rollers in the hole. And we were lucky.
@wiscot
Of course, even 15-20 degrees sounds delightful compared to the negative-15 it was the other morning.
I'm up for a cogal, of course, although let's keep it somewhere south of that 320km mark you were blowing out your ass earlier. What weekend is the Cheesehead this year? I'd have to check my calendar. I couldn't make it the last two years.
@Teocalli welcome back! Hope the white stuff has been good to you and you've not broken anything
@Gianni
Did you live in a Monty Python sketch?
I most often hear the little voice of quit in 2 situations: those long drawn-out efforts where everything hurts, the legs can barely turn the pedals, etc and the short retina-hemorrhaging full gas stomps that make aortic dissection seem like a nice way to relax. Quitting is much less likely, personally, in the former than the latter. And it shows.
@Mike_P
Like a nasal septum?
@The Oracle
Hey! April 27 for Cheesehead Roubaix. Fireman's Park, Newburg.
I got a 250kms ride in last year and felt damn good at the end (all things considered - cramping left foot). That's why the goal is 320 kms this year. Or 200 miles as we say in West Bend.
@GogglesPizano
Perfect. Take your rule #6 lessons on the trainer. Pretty good place for it I'd say.
@zugo
Who are you kidding? Of course you have a problem with quitting! You quit before you even started buddy. Joining the fast group and getting dropped day in and day out is best thing you can do to school yourself in rule #5 & #6. Each time you get dropped it will be closer to the end of the ride until one day you don't get dropped.