On Feb 21, 2014, at 7:12 PM, murphyjrfk <murphyj...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I know it's a bit off topic- but it's still cold and snowy. > > It seems every year, especially winter, I get grand ideas to get out and ride > more. Lofty goals like finishing a P12 and taking a tour--but alas it never > happens. I read about Jan's adventures and other list members and I know > they have families and kids and jobs and other grown up things and can still > find the time. I can't ever seem to. Between the kids and wife and work and > etc etc it just seems to fly and then it's another winter thinking the same > thing. Don't get me wrong I love my kids and my wife and my job for that > matter-but man I'd like to ride a bit more too. > > So you over achievers among us-how do you do it?! Last year I resolved to ride more. I used to ride lots (6,000-7,000 miles a year) but after I stopped racing my mileage dwindled. Riding for pleasure seems to require fewer miles than riding for racing-level aerobic and anaerobic capacity. Plus there is work, marriage, owning a home, aging in-laws, sleeping and my jazz band that all need time. So I ride maybe 1,000-2,000 miles a year now (last year less than that due to winter lasting into May, crappy weather for quite a while after that, a late summer with multiple bad storms, then breaking my elbow just before Labor Day and finally- like much of the Northern Hemisphere- the coldest winter in 30 years and the snowiest winter in 20). One can find ways to gracefully add cycling to one's life, or one can force it in. Back in my racing days I forced in cycling time (20+ hours a week) as a priority; now I fit it in. I'm nowhere near as fit as I was and probably never will be again. 5 hour centuries are a thing of my past. Back then I came to hate riding my bike by the end of the summer, revived a bit by the cyclo-cross season, and eventually realized that I only really enjoyed those few rides that came after the 'cross championships. That's when I stopped racing. I'm happier. I enjoy every ride. I ride for fun after work and on the weekends. I ride with slower people without frustration (although there are fewer slower-than-me people than there used to be, LOL). I ride to work a day or two a week when the weather is nice. I ride to the store sometimes if I am picking up things that can be carried on the bike without too much difficulty. I'd like to ride some tours but it's probably not going to happen until I retire, it's as simple as that- and hopefully by then I will still be healthy enough to be able to do it. This year I plan to learn to enjoy riding our tandem; we've had two and the driving-a-school-bus feeling has always been a turnoff to me. A lot of those folks doing all that riding are sometimes sacrificing important things to ride- like time with their family. In some families that works OK and in some it doesn't. Most of the randonneurs I know are 50+ and their kids are either grown up or are teenagers who don't want to be near their parents anyway. I have come to the conclusion that riding a bike should not be a sacrifice, it should be a bonus. So I fit it in where it fits rather than forcing it. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
