How come we haven’t done this before?

 Men who should know better......

Considering we are part of a bicycle racing team it is stunning how many of my teammates hadn’t spent much, or any, time on mountain bikes.  A friend invited a few of us to the mountains later this month and in preparation for that adventure we had a few teammates out to the valley for some mountain bike skills practice.

You don’t need a lot of practice to ride uphill when you’ve been doing it on road and gravel bikes.  With a truck to shuttle, and enough riders so that we didn’t mind when it was our turn, we got in a week’s worth of riding in a very full weekend. 

Jan Heine's preferred drivetrain.....

Modern mountain bikes with full suspension, hydraulic disc brakes and dropper posts are a miracle.  It doesn’t matter if you have never been on a mountain bike, or if you suffered with 26” tires at 50 psi, canti brakes, crappy shifting and hard tail aluminum frames; what the bikes can do now is amazing regardless.

Tom remarked, “This is so fun; why haven’t we done this before?”

El Chefe’ and I offered all the tips and tricks we had and our brothers took them to heart.  It was impressive to see a bunch of fifty-something men go so far out of their comfort zone.  Their bravery was rewarded with good times and competent bike-handling skills.

As we get older one of our coping skills is to shrink our worlds and only do what we are comfortable doing.  While our group outwardly looked like a Flowmax commercial, we were in fact keeping ourselves young by doing new things.

Slow motion rider

 Oh baby.....

Since OTGG I’ve been quiet.  The reasons are more nuanced than simply saying I was tired, or old, or busy.  Nonetheless I was pleased to have achieved my two very separate goals of preparing for, and doing, the event itself. 

Following the race I went into recovery mode and that was a good thing.  I was hungry for a month and my legs didn’t feel zippy for six weeks.  I’m not saying my legs weren’t strong, I am just sharing that they were heavy and tired for a long time.

With my goal accomplished I didn’t feel driven to load up the hours of training.  I’m still riding a lot and I do try and sprinkle in some intensity now and then, but I’m not gaming my schedule to fit in three or four hours of riding before or after work each week.  Likewise if I am going long on a Saturday it is because of an opportunity for fun, not an obligation to log hours in the saddle.

My work circumstances have changed, at least in the short term, and that is allowing me some added ride opportunities during the week.  I’ve noted some fast friends of mine on STRAVA who seem to ride a little almost every day, as opposed to fitting a week of riding into one weeknight and two weekend rides.  This may be my style for a while.  I am anxious to see how that plays out.