Anyone who races or does ultra distances wants to be on form. There’s nothing better than riding your bike like the wind at the opportune moment: the last 200 meters of a criterium, up the 7-mile climb with 7% average gradient, on the back half of a double or regular century. Feeling fatigue or “no legs” on a big day disappoints. All the training, data analysis and nutrition is for naught. The massages, too, from professional hands or self-administered. The compression socks that helped replenish tired blood with oxygen the night before suddenly seem useless.
But those days are rare. We’re smarter. We train the right way. On race or ride day, the toning creme rubbed into our quadriceps, hamstrings and calves readies them for a huge effort, not masks soreness and pain. Elevating. Stretching. Preparing. We want it to work. And we work on it. Yes, we’re on form. This is how it should be. Navigating the razor’s edge between prepared and physically fried is the most difficult part of cycling. The more the body is stressed and tested, the more susceptible it becomes to sickness. Riding when hurt can expose you to more injury. Rest days aren’t for slackers. No, they’re equal in importance to the hardest training days, if not more so. We’ve learned this through experience. Through bonking. Through gasping for air and losing wheels. Through dragging ourselves over a mountain with nothing more than a suitcase of courage. It’s fascinating and human. It’s sport. Consider: In a peculiar way, cyclists are a cross between gym weightlifters who religiously pump iron, and slightly built marathon runners who get something out of every movement forward. Cyclists balance strength for power and aerobic capacity for endurance to go places. We’re engines. Engines atop on works of beauty made of steel, titanium, carbon fiber or aluminum. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Especially when we’re on form.
If you like coming to BikeCrave regularly, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or think about how to make a difference with just a Penny per mile. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts:
- Good ‘sensations’ I’ve read some spirited pro cycling comments (and banter) from fans. One recently lamented how pros often describe getting good “sensations” in their legs, while mortals experience races or rides in which the quads, calves and hamstrings are filled with a heavy feeling of dread. Heh. Haven’t we all been...
- Fear is a funny thing Are you afraid? Why? Start living. Pursue dreams. Don’t make excuses. If you fail, get up. Try again. Do better. Be smarter next time. Anything rewarding and real requires effort. No one said it would be easy or 100-percent safe. Riding a bike has its risks. You might crash. Or suffer...
- The ‘Deal Kitchen’ Here’s the deal: You get one shot. No matter who you are. Whether you’re good, bad or indifferent. Whether at the peak of youth, in the final stages, or barely beyond the start line at the highest professional levels. So much can happen. The seemingly impossible can go two directions so...
- Healing Here’s “Chapter 2″ in my March 2008 crash experience. I’m republishing material written shortly after the ordeal to provide a glimpse for others into the “process” if you’re run off the road and left for dead. The italicized content below main post are my observations today. “A week after almost losing...
- Hot rhymes with not Riding in extreme heat. Cyclists in Central California, Arizona, Florida and other roasted climes know the drill: start early, end before lunch. Or ride in the dark. Whatever you do, avoid the day’s scorching zenith. I’ve ridden in some nasty warmth (the final 30 miles of the 155-mile Climb to...
