The weather has taken a turn for the warm here in the northeast. That coupled with a really nice present from my wife for Christmas meant it was time to get Nora bundled up in warm clothing and get myself back out on my bike.
This past summer my wife purchased a Burley trailer as a way for me to spend time with my daughter while getting exercise. As a former racing cyclist I have a love/hate relationship with my many bicycles. I love feeling the wind in my face and spinning a good high cadence, but I hate my current fitness level, where the slightest rise in the road slows me significantly, when I used to race hill climbs and use upward turns of the road to put a hurting on my opponents (and on occasion, my teammates.) [Ok, to be fair, J.B. often put a hurting on me, but he weighed 132 pounds dripping wet and I was (and am) a good size bigger than him.]
It's funny how one's perspective shifts over time. I have to confess that I feel awkward in a bike shop now-a-days, like the regulars are asking "what is this fat guy doing in here?"
In my smaller form I used to wonder who in the world would order the XXXL clothing from bike nashbar instead of purchasing the higher quality Castelli, Giordana or Pearl Izumi. I now have my answer. People who love the sport of cycling but who don't have the time to devote their lives to fitting everything around time spent on the bike. People who don't see 37-40 as a reasonable interpretation of XXL.
The weather is still kind of nice today. Think I'll go throw on my knickers and take a ride.
Hey, I didn't know you were/are a serious cyclist. I just started training for my very first century, in June. Actually, it's 130 mi. It's daunting, but I think I can do it. It will be, by far, the most athletic thing I've ever done in my entire life.
Posted by: Darius K. | January 06, 2008 at 03:41 PM
D. - a century is a very daunting undertaking. A century plus is even more so. Knowing you have another couple of hours in the saddle after you've hit triple digits on your cyclometer can be a real blow. On the other hand, seeing your odometer turn over to 100 on a single ride for the first time is a real charge.
I remember my first century - summer of 1990. I had just started getting in to cycling, but was not yet a serious cyclist. I knew to use the appropriate gearing and to spin at 90 rpms. But I was woefully under equipped. I was using an old steel Ross bicycle that I had gotten for my 8th grade graduation. (the frame height was right, but everything else was wrong - crankarms, stem, seatpost, etc. Even the gearing used the ill advised, extend the cables up to the stem rather than place them on the down tube.
It was a beautiful July day in the midwest. (I was on a fellowship with the Dept. of Energy.) Temperature was hovering around the mid 80's. I had added extra bottle holders and made sure that I purchased my first cycling jersey so I could stock up at the rest areas.
I jumped in with groups that I could ride with, got in to my first pacelines ever, learned to draft to conserve energy - it was a rush. Later that day though, right around mile 90, my legs started to feel very, very heavy. Perhaps some of those pacelines were just a bit too fast earlier in the day. maybe my preparation was just a bit off. I don't know. I barely remember the last 10 miles of that day. All I do recall is that one of the guys I had ridden with for the past 30 or so miles said tuck in behind me, watch my wheel, and stay out of the wind. And so that's what I did.
I don't remember much of driving back to where I was staying, save for a brief stop for two quarts of gatorade at a 7-11.
When I got home at around 5 pm, my head hit the pillow and I was out for at least 3 hours. When I woke up and made dinner, my legs ached, I had a headache, my butt was sore, I was probably still dehydrated... but I had ridden my bike a hundred + miles that day. And that felt really, really good.
Can't wait to hear more about your upcoming ride.
Posted by: Bill | January 06, 2008 at 05:45 PM