My wife and I live in subtropical Maui. We moved here partly to break the horrible cycle of fall fitness followed by winters of undersubscribed gym memberships, eleven minute turbotrainer sessions, weight gain followed by depression and a complete loss of cycling fitness every f’ing spring. Bib knickers worn until May to ride exhausting little loops that would be non-events the summer before. Every year became a rebuild from zero. By August things are humming, long crazy rides completed. By October it’s back to commuting with lights. Too many of these cycles can make a cyclist bitter.
Careers are over-rated. What about my cycling career? Sure when you are in your early twenties an hour on the rollers is easy, squats at the gym are fun, beer drinking somehow never adds a gram of weight. Fifteen minutes on the rollers seems like an hour as you get older, in case anyone is wondering.
Good things happen when you can ride all year long. Obviously you do ride all year long. Tan lines become permanent tattoos despite the endless slathering of sunscreen. You get thinner, stay fitter and don’t have to ever own bib knickers. It is fantastic. It is such a novelty to ride your brains out in December and January that come April you can’t figure out what to do.
When you can ride year round and you do ride year round, that does present a downside. It’s easier to get trapped by the repetition and familiarity of your cycling life. Things are what they are. For fifteen years I’ve happily ridden a frame that was too large for me and had a 130mm stem, because big guys need long stems. Why did I not address that?
Perspective on your own riding can only be gained by getting some distance away from it. Either ride a different bike or stay off the bike. The first time I borrowed Frank’s Bianchi, after lowering the seat, it was a real revelation. Frank’s drop between seat and bars is huge, it changes the ride significantly. It made me question my own position, which is good. Never pass up a chance to ride another bike. It is easy to ride next to someone and see they are too stretched out, or on a bike three centimeters too small for them. But it is nearly impossible to get that same information about yourself. Is that why we steal a glance as we ride by plate glass store fronts? This is where I would praise a good bike fitter, if I had ever used one.
I forced myself off the bike for a good long time this winter to let my knee repair itself. It sucked. It sucked more than a wet cold house-bound winter because it was beautiful and everyone was riding except me. Driving a car on the our Sunday group ride route was torture. This also coincided with an N+1 purchase, a smaller frame and a shorter stem. When I did get back on the old number one it was so obvious, FFS, this bike is too big and this stem is too long! It was only after I was riding again after this decent hiatus did I notice things that had always been. My point is, you get used to anything.
So being forced off the bike in the winter serves a useful purpose I never understood. The first ride after a long interval is very instructive. Being reminded of how your shoes-saddle-hands-back bothered you is good. Try something else, out with the bad, in with the good. It’s a chance to buy new kit and work toward the unattainable perfect V-locus position.
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@Gianni
That's how one should preferably sit on any saddle. Rotate the pelvis forward, and spread the load on the inferior pubic rami. This gives a more stable position for the pelvis and a straighter, more extended back which is more comfortable for the whole back/shoulders/neck system.
Of course, this often means going to a saddle with a hole or channel in the middle, but it can be done on classic saddles too if the width and, more importantly, shape is right.
@Gianni thanks and if I was not already using 3 pedal cleat systems I would have switched thanks to your touting Speedplay. Hey for the first ime in my life I will be living within riding distance of a decent velodrome -whoooeee!
Nice one, Gianni!
I'm currently in the middle of forcing myself off the pitch for a few weeks. Have an injury or two that is just not healing by playing futbol twice a week. No fun, but definitely best in the long run.
I discussed this with Nate. Does anyone else like to have their bikes set up a bit differently? I have my fast training/race bike set up to be low and fast. I have my Sunday cruiser set up a bit higher, less STBD (saddle-to-bar-drop...might be nice to adopt that acronym 'round here!) and a bit more relaxed. Nothing radical, but some slight differences since I generally use one to ride fast & hard, the other to ride a bit more leisurely.
@graham d.m.
Yeah, someone had to bail. My wife is back in New England right now and she reports cold nastiness.
@Fiery
Now I understand that but I couldn't rotate forward on my Specialized saddle, too much me and not enough channel. It is weird that Specialized sizes saddles by how wide your sit bones are when one really shouldn't be sitting like that. My lower back is much happier now, better now than never but shiet, I wish I knew that 20 years ago. Or maybe that's just getting old. I'm liking the Selle SMP a lot.
@Rob
A velodrome! Fantastic news. I'm jealous. You were made for the velodrome. Pursuit, match sprints, those guys are in trouble down in Miami. I don't know what a "stayer" is, but you must be one.
@gianni - spot on mate. After 3 months of finding reasons not to, I got out into the Santa Monicas today and it was just magnificent. So excited to have roads like that on the doorstep and be able to ride them all year around.
Oh Las Flores canyon on 39/25? Not so much.....deep in the grindhouse....
Here's where I confess my shame. The extent of my cycling lately has been watching others ride. I don't get out hardly at all. I've allowed the starting of not one but two businesses take over my existence. I've gotten fat and angry at myself. I need to ride again but have failed to find the time.
Thanks for good writing. Let's see how I do now.
@Erik
Say five Hail Merckxes and call me in the morning. Start small, any ride is better than no ride. Yeah, work is a bitch, eventually you will be able to find that balance and your businesses will be doing so well you can afford ENVE wheels and tubs and ride your brains out.
@Joe
Good on ya. It might get a little wet in the winter which you are used to, but I'd say you are a year round SoCal rider now. And there are some nice velodromes hiding in LA too? No doubt still a 2 hour drive from Echo Park but still somehow in LA. What a place.
@Gianni
The plan is to ride tomorrow morning. Of course, that is always the plan, but this plan is on the calendar. Then to work again.
Thanks. I needed the Merckxes. I sincerely lack V right now. At least on the bike.