What it is to love a sport...

One of the hardest ones is motivation, which is coupled with the
desire to
see steady improvement. There's the urge to compare yourself against
others, or against some mythic standard.


There are other motivating drives in addition to seeing steady
improvement:

1. The desire to see new things or old things in a different way.

2. The desire to accomplish a specific goal. My latest goal has been
to bike to a nearby town and return, finding out about the recently
completed trail system, and sharing that info with others.

3. Social relationships, sharing time with my wife.

4. Feeling the cold on your face, and despite freezing temperatures,
having a "succcessful" ride. Or the warmth.

5. Watching a field full of robins, or a nest of birds, ar a herd of
deer, or the flowers blooming more each day as you ride.

And many more. Not all of us are primarily motivated on the concept of
"steady improvement" although I doubt there is anyone who does not feel
good about "steady improvement."

"Colorado Bicycler" wrote:
Not all of us are primarily motivated on the concept of
"steady improvement" although I doubt there is anyone who does not feel
good about "steady improvement."

Excellent post! I've been riding for about 30 years (not counting my
childhood and teenage years), and I have to laugh when someone suggests I do
intervals or some such to "improve." Hey, if I haven't gotten there by now,
I probably never will. FWIW, I'm not much slower than I was in my 20's.

If the only motivation for riding is continuos improvement, a lot of new
riders are going to drop out when they hit 30 or 40. If the motivation is
enjoying the ride, bicycling can be a lifetime activity.

Art Harris

SlowRider wrote:

Training inevitably brings its share of disappointments. A couple of
Saturdays ago I was out doing intervals on my road bike - hitting
speeds I could only dream of holding for any length of time - when I
got passed by a guy who was chatting on his cell phone(?!).
Nevermind
how foolish it might be to use a cell phone while cycling - the guy
wasn't even breathing hard. I felt old and tired when I got back to
my
house.

It's silly to react like that, there's always somebody who is faster.
If speed isn't your natural strength, then endurance may be.

I had a guy start in on that line in the parking lot after a ride last
year. He was like: I train so hard, and I'm about the same age as you,
so how come you could just blow by me? I'm like: I don't know, don't
obsess about it, enjoy the ride. Then I'm thinking what a drag it is to
ride with people like him, the nasty vibe just hangs in the air.

How is talking on the phone any different than eating a sandwich?


Another example: Thursday nights I put myself through the wringer --
it's a long session of intervals on the trainer. Usually when I
finish
this workout, my legs are jelly. Last night I started my workout,
but
by the time I was halfway through, I felt tired and my stomach was
gurgling. I couldn't continue. Was I getting sick? Was I
over-training? I wasn't very happy.

Trainers suck. I can't think of anything that will drain the life out
of cycling faster. I figure you only have so many nasty experiences in
the clip, once you're over the limit you quit. When I start feeling
burned out by too much hot pavement in mid-summer, I head for the
woods. When riding in the pack gets too tedious, time to go solo.
Sometimes you just need to go out & ride stairs and alleys. Life's too
short for the gerbil wheel.

"SlowRider" wrote in message
oups.com...

A couple of
Saturdays ago I was out doing intervals on my road bike - hitting
speeds I could only dream of holding for any length of time - when I
got passed by a guy who was chatting on his cell phone(?!).

In the first year of bicycle commuting to work here in the Seattle area, I
remember one morning when I was laboring up the west high rise of I-90. Some
guy zipped past me while on a cell phone. Then I realized he had an
electric-assist bike, and so had a little help in making it up the hill.

I never saw him again. I bet the electric bike was some sort of impulse
purchase, used a couple of times, then forgotten.


--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Home of the meditative cyclist:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cpetersky/Welcome.htm
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

On Sat, 26 Mar 2005 09:33:01 -0500, Arthur Harris wrote:
"Colorado Bicycler" wrote:
Not all of us are primarily motivated on the concept of
"steady improvement" although I doubt there is anyone who does not feel
good about "steady improvement."

Excellent post! I've been riding for about 30 years (not counting my
childhood and teenage years), and I have to laugh when someone suggests I do
intervals or some such to "improve." Hey, if I haven't gotten there by now,
I probably never will. FWIW, I'm not much slower than I was in my 20's.

If the only motivation for riding is continuos improvement, a lot of new
riders are going to drop out when they hit 30 or 40. If the motivation is
enjoying the ride, bicycling can be a lifetime activity.

Uhm, I'm 44 and I'm *much* faster than I was when I was in my 20's. I
can now maintain 20's on a century (avg w/pace line). Solo I can
maintain 17.8 over a century. I'm looking forward to going faster as I
get older. I know that I won't always be able to do that but I'll deal
with that when I get there.

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog

I had a guy start in on that line in the parking lot after a ride last
year. He was like: I train so hard, and I'm about the same age as you,
so how come you could just blow by me? I'm like: I don't know, don't
obsess about it, enjoy the ride. Then I'm thinking what a drag it is to
ride with people like him, the nasty vibe just hangs in the air.

There appear to be plenty of clueless, insecure people in the world.

Myself and three friends had split off from a group ride @ 50 miles. The
group was headed back to the starting point, we had ridden from home and
were headed for our town (about 20 miles to go). Most of us (myself
included) were a little fried and just cruising and socializing at this
point.

We're riding a multi-mile gradual uphill. Eventually a rider on aerobars
rolls by us. No big deal to him or us - he's just doing his ride.

A couple of miles up the road he's still a few hundred yards ahead of us. We
can see we are catching a small clump of riders.

As aerobar guy rolls past them, one guy in a Specialized jersey hops on his
wheel and they pull away from the remaining riders. Aerobar guy is still
just doing his pace.

At this point the grade of the road increases a bit, Specialized jersey guy
sprints *hard* around aerobar guy, then turns into a gas station.

Mentally, I rolled my eyes. Sigh.........


Chris Neary


"Science, freedom, beauty, adventu what more could
you ask of life? Bicycling combined all the elements I
loved" - Adapted from a quotation by Charles Lindbergh

In article .com,
"SlowRider" writes:

This morning I woke up feeling good and strong and full of enthusiasm.
Today's a rest day, so no riding for me, but I'm dreaming of rides to
be taken and hills to be climbed, and I think this must be what it is
to love a sport.

I like to think of riding as more of a craft than a sport.

Even though it really is a sport ;-)


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

Sat, 26 Mar 2005 19:15:37 -0800, ,
(Tom Keats) wrote:

In article .com,
"SlowRider" writes:

This morning I woke up feeling good and strong and full of enthusiasm.
Today's a rest day, so no riding for me, but I'm dreaming of rides to
be taken and hills to be climbed, and I think this must be what it is
to love a sport.

I like to think of riding as more of a craft than a sport.

Even though it really is a sport ;-)

I'm glad somebody said that. My hackles raise any time somebody wants
to pigeon hole cycling as a "sport". Bicycle racing, in all its
different forms, is a sport. Cycle polo/artistic cycling are sports.

Riding a bicycle can be a much greater part of ones life than mere
sport provides. If one read all the UCI rule books, diets books and
gear catalogues they'd still not know how to beat the number 9 bus to
Fraser Street.
--
zk

I appreciate your positive responses, but some of you seem to miss my
point: I love training. I love that my body still responds to it after
40-some years. I want to see what I'm capable of. I have nothing to
prove to anyone else, but I engage in the quixotic battle with the self
that George Sheehan and others have written about so eloquently.

In the case of the cyclist who passed me while talking on his cell
phone, I was "on the rivet", as they say, near the end of an interval
and going much faster than my usual pace. I cannot resent anyone for
going faster than me, anymore than I can resent someone for being 20
years younger. But no matter how rational one's attitude, it is
deflating to be bested by someone who evidently spends such a little
bit of effort.

For me, training is important. As much as I love a long ride on a
brilliant, sunny day, I love it even more when I feel fit, strong and
agile. Better fitness means I can take the scenic route that extends
my ride to 60 or 80 miles, instead of slogging home after only 40.
When I hop on the trainer in bad weather, it is a bit boring and
motivation is always a challenge; it may be the ultimate in deferred
gratification. But it feels good to move my legs, even indoors, and I
can still dream of sunny days when this effort will pay off.

No matter what your interest in cycling, there will be disappointments:
beautiful days that turn cold and rainy; one too many flats on a ride;
being run off the road by an aggressive driver; bonking hard with 10
miles to go, or taking a shortcut to get home before sunset only to
discover it's blocked by construction. The key is what keeps you
coming back for more, and I say it is love of the sport, no matter what
that means for you.

Ride safe.

-JR

On 28 Mar 2005 10:26:17 -0800, SlowRider wrote:

In the case of the cyclist who passed me while talking on his cell
phone, I was "on the rivet", as they say, near the end of an interval
and going much faster than my usual pace. I cannot resent anyone for
going faster than me, anymore than I can resent someone for being 20
years younger. But no matter how rational one's attitude, it is
deflating to be bested by someone who evidently spends such a little
bit of effort.

You can't do anything about someone being 20 years younger (at least
not legally ;-). But you can hate someone for riding faster than you
are! You then take that hate, remember it and take it out whenever you
train. You must drop your enemies behind you and listen to the wailing
and gnashing (isn't that an open source automobile? ;-) of teeth. At
least for a few seconds. That was something from Conan the
librarian. :-)

--
Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry
http://home.comcast.net/~ncherry/ (Text only)
http://hcs.sourceforge.net/ (HCS II)
http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog