In the world of wannabe cycling, there are certain activities that center around pain and suffering, usually of the going up type. These rides proudly proclaim their main aim: to inflict bodily harm on those participating. They have names like Blood, Sweat, and Gears; 3 Mountain Madness; etc.
Yesterday, I participated in the first ever of these events: The Blue Ridge Brutal:
Was it painful? Yes. Did I cry? No (but I almost did). Did I swear? Quite profusely. Did I have to make up mind games to get over the next hill that went on endlessly upwards before me? Of course.
But did I learn? Hells yes.
1) It's not so much the length of the climb as the gradient of the climb. For me, I can spin up something fairly steep forever, and was doing a good job of it too. I thought to myself, "I love climbing rides! This is easy!" as I happily rotated my legs at 80 rpms, my heart rate resting comfortable at 160. Lalala! Then, suddenly, the RPM went down to 75, then 70. Then I discovered I had no more grannie gears (someone needs to invent great grannie gears...oh wait...they did #SRAM Apex). Then I looked up (btw, NEVER look up) and saw that the road kept pitching severely upwards, and that it never ended. Suddenly it was all I could do to mash out 50 rpms, and the HR went up accordingly. It was the increased steepness that made me want to die.
2) It's amazing how quickly you can go from OK to Not OK. I mean, in a matter of feet (see #1) you can transition from Just Fine to Wow, SO Not Fine. And all it may take is a teeny little change in gradient, or a slight uptick in pace from the group. I've known this principal for a while, but it really hit home during this ride.
3) Cycling shows you both your strength and your weakness, and both parts are equally awesome. It's amazing that a sport can take you literally to the point of losing your shit entirely. Because it is in the suffering that we really discover things about ourselves, what sort of people we really are, not in the easy moments, the great rides. Can you get through it? Can you overcome? Can you get back to the car and smile about the day rather than think "oh god, I will NEVER do that again." How do you deal? Cycling teaches you how to deal.
4) Ride your own ride. Do not ride the ride you think you have to ride, or the ride everyone else is riding. Know yourself, know your limits, know your strengths, make a plan, and ride accordingly. Do not confuse this statement to mean "never go out and push yourself." No way. Push yourself. But don't push yourself because you think everyone else expects you to. Push yourself because it's your own damn ride and you want to.
4cont) For me? I wanted to be able to look around and see the scenery, I had never ridden on the parkway before and may not again for a long long time. I wanted to have gas in the tank at the end. I wanted to be able to walk the next day because I still had a lot of stuff to do. So I rode my own ride, I let people bomb past me on the descents and I let myself spin past them on the ascents. I even let people wheeze past me on some climbs, as I breathed nice and easy next to them. The whole concept of the ride was hard for me, so I knew I couldn't go out and "ride hard" on my first "hard ride" attempt. And know what? It worked perfectly.
And that's that. I'm excited to see what sort of pain California has in store for me. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment