Thursday Thoughts ~~ How to End a Cycling Career

I believe in competition.  More I believe that everyone should enter some kind of competition, at least every two to three years.  Yes, that’s pretty general, and it could mean anything, but I’ll get to cycling specifics in a moment.

I like the idea of “Formal Competition,” on a somewhat regular basis.  It’s good for us.  We learn things in the contest that we could not learn any other way.  And win, lose, or draw, a good race can be a lot of fun.  But…

Please note, I used a term, “Formal Competition.”  I’m much in favor of this.  The “formal” means an organized, sanctioned event.  One with rules.  One that has impartial officials, and one that takes place in a controlled venue.  On a level field, the contest has real meaning.  It’s kind of important too, that all the participants know that a race is on.  I’m not in favor of street racing, or “secret racing,” or “charity racing.”

There is something about cycling that brings out the competitive in us.  I don’t know why this is, and I don’t understand it.  I’m put in mind of something Faulkner wrote, to the effect that, if there were two horses in a county, one could be assured that there would be a race.  Maybe that’s part of it.  Certainly a lot of the marketing of the cycling industry centers around competitive sport.

However, we should all remember one thing.  Cycling is a pastime.  It should be fun.  Wasn’t it the element of Joy that brought us into this?  I would guess that most would answer yes to that question.

And therein is the problem.  You see, we got into it for joy.  And at some point most of us start to be competitive.  Whether that competitive urge is expressed formally, or not, it tends to get expressed.  Then comes the part that can be corrosive.

I see this scenario play out far too often.  An individual in early to middle adulthood returns to cycling.  Usually there is the excuse of needing to recover fitness.  But the bike is chosen as a means to this end, because it is fun!

Then, after the suffering of returning to fitness, the individual drifts toward the contest.  There are some mixed early results.  Then comes some form of success. Next thing, the now not so new rider is “training,” and doing a lot of racing.  Racing becomes an obsession.  “Fun rides,” vanish.  It’s “march or die!”

This individual doesn’t know it, but their days as a cyclist are numbered.  Racing rules!  But racing is an extremely harsh mistress.  And one day the results begin to diminish.  So, urged on by various bicycle-specific “beauty magazines,” the obsessed competitor begins to ride harder, train more, and have less fun doing it.

The day will come when this person will “hit the wall.”  It might be an injury that does it.  It could be a crash.  It could be just one lousy race too many.  But the adult-child who returned to this delightful pastime, grows weary of it, and walks away.

What’s the cure?  The only thing I can figure is, don’t take yourself, your bike, or your racing too seriously.  And when it starts to get intense, leave all the training tools at home, and go for a long, slow ride to the grocery store.  Look at the world!  Maybe invite some folks who are really slow along for a ride, and make sure you are at the back the whole way.

It’s a thought.