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.
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There will be plenty of time to quit when I'm dead.
Nice write up Frank.
I think everyone needs a Rule #6 ambassador.
Mine is just a guy I know (Craig), 5 years older than me not quite as fit or strong who comes out with me on occasion when I do endurance power intervals. He just sits on my wheel using me as a sort of motorpacing. The thing that amazes me is that he sticks on my wheel, and does not let go... ever. He'll drop back sometimes, but never looses touch. Occasionally, when my coach asks it of me, I forgo the power limit and just push aiming for PB power for that duration. I've still not managed to drop him... just hangs on and hangs on. I can tell he's hurting. When the interval is over he can barely stay upright sometimes.
Now, when I am in the pain cave, maybe just hanging onto a bunch in a race and want to give in I think "Craig wouldn't give up". Funnily enough, I've always find something more and push through and it surprises me every time.
Rule 6 is one that I am constantly working on. Cycling has come to me relatively late. I have never been a competitive sort. Never the guy trying to be first. Never really relishing in the self punishment. Cycling as you all know is different... I feel it cultivating the suffer love in me. I am learning, trying to shut off the voice inside and simply pedal.
I work in an environment that leans towards employment of "young people", and find the greatest mental push that I get each day commuting each way for my own personal 10k TT is knowing that they know I could hand their asses to them on any given day aboard a bike. I have a colleague who is two years younger than me and yet any old man jokes that are thrown around end up on his desk, not mine. I never say "not today, maybe tomorrow".
Where do you guys and the guys over at tumblr like BigRingRiding get all this amazing classic cycling photographs? Do you actually scan them from old magazines or is it just Google?
Australia Day weekend, Alpine Classic in the Victorian High Country. I was doing the 200km. About 150kms in, I'm crawling up Mt Buffalo in my lowest gear. I've already climbed 3600 metres and am feeling it in the 34 degree heat, so I'm looking for some inspiration. I look down at my cycle computer (no Garmin here) and see a little icon lit up in the top right hand corner of the postage stamp sized screen. I swear I've never sen this icon before in the 7 years I've used this unit and I've no idea what it means. It's the letter 'V'.....made me smile!
Would be great to even get out on a Rule#9 ride that I could consider quitting... instead we sit here in the realm of not a chance one would even go out due to personal safety / extreme frostbite type of weather .... maybe a couple more weeks
@Ron
This is what you need for man flu. It's even Rule V compliant
@VeloSix, @frank
No because the homework would never involve breathless achievement reports back on this forum or anywhere else for that matter. Its simply an extension of the lesson you've already opted into. See also Rule 74.
Sorry I meant: See also Rule #72.