I get asked all the time “Why do you do it?” and I have to admit it’s a fair question.
Riding your bike for 20+ hours a week (and I am trying to be honest here) can be really horrible sometimes. In the moments of self pity (or is it weakness?), when you rub you sore legs in the thick predawn morning, the days you leave the office late and don’t get off the bike until midnight, shivering and starving, the lunches replaced with protien, the shakes traded for salads.
The truth of it is that the process of getting better is a harrowing and dark one but it is in those times of physical and mental darkness that you have to remind yourself just how sweet the reality of being better is.
So why do I do it? Because I wouldn’t know who I was if I didn’t.
cyclingon:
Here’s James running the gauntlet down 5th Ave this morning after our laps in Central Park. Trucks, busses, cabs, cars all whizzing by while changing lanes. You can’t think of the actual danger of the situation or you might not make it through. But as you’re squeezing by cabs & busses, it’s never that far removed from thought.
Last night’s whiskey sloshing in my stomach, the days problems buzzing in my head, cold December air numbing my feet, my bike seat under my ass and I couldn’t be happier.
Strange that I should find myself here after all these years. Climbing four filthy stairs into the artificial August of a heated yellow school bus. It was always a thrill for me, to step out of the biting Boston cold into the warm arms of the school bus, aisles stained with salt and seats tattered by abecedarian vandals.
Just as quickly the spray off Erik’s tire snaps me back to reality, dirty water dripping down my face, and I remember I am cold. I am riding up 1st Ave in the pouring rain, it’s 6:15AM, 45 degrees and I am cold. An hour and a half later we are still riding, now my shoes are small buckets, the booties working against me and holding in little lakes of Central Park water. It is important to be able to distract yourself in cycling. We all have different methods, and right now I am in the drop and studying the contours of my arms, now visible through my soaked jacket and again floating back to my childhood schoolbus. I study and think about how the things in your life that you love cease to be a choice.
It was no more a choice for me to wake up and ride than it is a choice for me to wear a suit everyday, tell my family I love them or take pictures. It is going to happen because it is the person I have become and I don’t know what else to do. So I ask you followers, what in your life is not a choice, and what does that say about you?
I was a bit too buzzed to go ride tonight outside, so the trainer it is. (snapped by my roommate dave follow him here)
Jayson played slip and slide with the pavement at mile 65 today
Brb, going climbing with my brothers
GPOYW: Open season on open jerseys
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A little spinning tonight in Central Park
I was invited Rapha’s Imperial Works program, described by them:
The Imperial Works piano factory is the home of Rapha Racing Ltd, and the programme has been created for a select group of riders who share our passion for road racing and have supported Rapha over the last 12 months. Each season, a number of limited edition products will be offered exclusively to Imperial Works members.
You all can’t see the products, but they are good my favorite is the all black rain jacket
Got some of the new Rapha Pro Team bib shorts.
Marketing has changed, and I have talked about it before. Effective advertising is more and more about creating engaging content and inspires, pulls existing customers from like to love and new customers from ignorance to intrigue. Rapha knows this better than most anyone and they continue to absolutely kill it.
It was a 13% climb for about 500m to finish the race today. I attacked right at the bottom, channeled my best Gilbert and came across about 10 seconds in front of #2 (finishing behind me in this picture).
Filming a spot with NBC and Rapha
bike racing is a lot about not being afraid to make choices. get into this break, or wait. attack up this hill or don’t. you don’t have time to weigh the cost/benefit of the situation and there is really no room for the meek. and so, the only way to be successful in a bike race is to not be afraid to lose it completely. you have to be prepared to get last in order to come in first.
