With the beginnings of my legs coming back from the near dead of overuse, I have been reflecting on the past year. Almost one year ago was the worst time of my life. I had injured myself in a work related accident a year before and was told that since the surgery required was very dangerous and that so far nothing was impinging on my nerves; that nothing would be done other than trying to make me feel better with drugs. I would now be partially disabled. Some people would look at me weird because I couldn't move my neck and some would just feel sorry for me. And, coming from being a very physically active person with a very active family, this caused severe emotional stress and I proceeded to gain a lot of weight. This weight gain caused even more stress. And, then I lost the most important person in my life other than my son...my best friend. I can't blame her.
I wanted out. I saw no future for me. My son, family, and friends kept close. They believed in me more than I believed in myself. They were there
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
A rebuttal...
I read a blog post this morning. It was an interesting read on the justification of riding ultras and riding in general. I kind of read it in disbelief, though. Why would one put themselves through all of the training, and the so called emotional detachment of not living a "balanced life" for the sake of just not being gruff? There are so many wonderful things to do in this world. Why waste it on something you don't enjoy? Why do you do what you do? Surely there has to be a reason aside from just having a goal to complete or because your family is "dysfunctional"...?
In my efforts to be a reasonably descent cyclist, all of the so called negative aspects of training, were all negated by the lack of negativity. Truly enjoying what one does for a hobby is wonderful! If you have more than one, that is cool too! Yes, there are boring days, but life is boring sometimes. People usually have one question when they learn of my riding and that is how do you manage to put in the miles? The answer is not as complex as they think it is. It doesn't require me to be gone everyday for three hours at a time. Averaging above 250 miles a week is actually not a huge task. I found I was doing it with only a minimum of time taken out of my life. More often than not, it is making choices like riding to the rides to add miles. Most of the rides would take that long to drive to anyway. I know some people who work out at the gym more than I ride my bike hour wise. I even manage to find rides where I just smell the roses and check out the scenery. Watching the sunrise on Saturday mornings is amazing. Most people nowadays sleep in from staying out on the Friday before. This also gives me the chance to be get back to being a good dad to my ever so wonderful son.
In the blog post, Ultra cyclists are placed into categories:
In my efforts to be a reasonably descent cyclist, all of the so called negative aspects of training, were all negated by the lack of negativity. Truly enjoying what one does for a hobby is wonderful! If you have more than one, that is cool too! Yes, there are boring days, but life is boring sometimes. People usually have one question when they learn of my riding and that is how do you manage to put in the miles? The answer is not as complex as they think it is. It doesn't require me to be gone everyday for three hours at a time. Averaging above 250 miles a week is actually not a huge task. I found I was doing it with only a minimum of time taken out of my life. More often than not, it is making choices like riding to the rides to add miles. Most of the rides would take that long to drive to anyway. I know some people who work out at the gym more than I ride my bike hour wise. I even manage to find rides where I just smell the roses and check out the scenery. Watching the sunrise on Saturday mornings is amazing. Most people nowadays sleep in from staying out on the Friday before. This also gives me the chance to be get back to being a good dad to my ever so wonderful son.
In the blog post, Ultra cyclists are placed into categories:
Thursday, March 7, 2013
2013 Bloomin' Arts Ride
What about a recovery? My legs were kind of screaming at me by now. Two weeks of solid racing and no real recovery rides...When I saw the post on Facebook, I knew I had to do it. I would support a great shop in Leroy's Bikeworks and hopefully get to see some familiar local faces and meet some new ones. When I got there, Leroy's tent was up and he and Alex were dressed in warm gear as it was cold. This would be a three layer day. The temperatures would not get out of the 50s. As people started to line up, my legs were just telling me no, but I wanted to see if I could get them loosened up and work in a good pace. Hopefully Allan and William and Jay would be able to hang so I could take a few turns at the back.
One of the great things about this event is that they give back to the community. They had a big raffle and gave away bikes for kids. This was awesome to see. I love to see a kids face brighten as they are handed a bike to ride. After the giveaway, Trish (the organizer) jumped in the car and escorted us out of town. I was fast on her tail, pulling 27 to 28. I looked back to see the others falling back. This would be a ride alone, I guess.
Trish barely had time to jump out of the car and snap the pic above. All things seemed to go well. My legs kind of loosened up a bit and I was rocking. I even beat the Patrol car to the stop light
One of the great things about this event is that they give back to the community. They had a big raffle and gave away bikes for kids. This was awesome to see. I love to see a kids face brighten as they are handed a bike to ride. After the giveaway, Trish (the organizer) jumped in the car and escorted us out of town. I was fast on her tail, pulling 27 to 28. I looked back to see the others falling back. This would be a ride alone, I guess.
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