Lack of focus reveals focus

Simple pleasures 

With COVID-19 putting everyone’s season on hold, April was not the typical training month I usually enjoy. Instead of gearing up for Goldendale and subsequent events, I just went riding.  I am normally a periodized training plan kind of guy and lacking any firm objectives I am just riding.  I am also hiking and running and taking walks purely for the pleasure of it.  

Without having to force each run or ride into a spot in my grand training plan I find I am much more in the moment during my rides, runs, hikes and strolls.  I am not a fan of the shut down and I am even less of a fan of the slower than I think it needs to be return to a new normal, yet I am finding some happiness in not being so damn focused.  It has allowed me to focus on what is fun. 

Changing topics

Pancakes if I want them.

This is my blog, so rather than break the rules, I just change them.  I have babbled on, with seemingly endless self-indulgence, about all flavors of biking and so this transition may come as a total surprise.  Oh well.

Buckle up Evo fans.  You're going to be reading about some backpacking in the months to come.

A few years back when mortality slapped me in the face and I was forced to contemplate (and luckily avoid) lifestyle restrictions the activity that I most feared losing was backpacking.  I was shocked.  To put this in perspective, I had not been backpacking in ten years.  I still can't explain it, but I did go on a trip with my son the following summer and our plan is to go again this August.

Only reluctantly have I acknowledged that I am in my "Someday" phase of life and before too long that window will close and be replaced by regrets.  A few years back Hottie and I were riding and we joined a guy who was setting out to ride from Seattle to the east coast.  His wife had told him, "You better go now, you will soon be too old."  Welcome to my motivation.

I will share more details of that trip and why it is important to each of us as well as some background on how I got where I am.  

In the meantime, I will tease you with a few odd comments, think of these as scenes from our next episode(s). 

• It started with a down jacket that didn't quite fit.  
• Eighteen years from beginning to end.
• I was called back.
• Analog hiking
• It all worked 

Habits with Benefits

Eggs, Grits and Coffee.   I'm ready for anything.

As I age, the physical things get more difficult.  It happens so slowly, I really don’t notice.  Because I have been in competitive athletics for over fifty years, I’m used to training and being sore. The principle of putting effort into the bank now so it is there when you need it later, has become so ingrained in my head that I don’t even think to complain, even to myself.

I have grown to embrace the hard stuff and because I know it pays off later, I willingly accept it.  What is bizarre is that the hard work has created a Pavlovian response such that I actually enjoy the hard work. If asked, I would be glad do to the hard work even if I knew the fitness would never come.  Yeah, I’m afflicted.  The hard work has become a habit.

As the work gets harder and I even enjoy the hard work, I regularly forget that sooner or later the fitness comes.  With all these years of knowledge and the pattern of results coming after the hard work, it is stunning that I am actually surprised when it happens.

This year, like last year, it happened on a ride that was on a tight schedule.  The original plan was to go for a two or three hour ride, but a work meeting ran late and then later, so I had just over an hour. 

The first sensation is that my pedal stroke is smooth.  Instead of a push, push, push, left, right, left, it is just spin, spin, spin.  Then I ramp up the power and instead of the power starting to fade after ten or so seconds, it just keeps coming.   Then when I continue a longer push, my body doesn’t fight it. 

I watch my heart rate climb and instead of my body sending out alarms, it says, “Hells yeah.” “Hmmm,” I think to myself, “I can hold this for a while.”  I find myself surprised that the payoff has finally come.  I have learned that I don’t get to predict when the fitness comes, but when it does, I know it.

Embrace the grind

Coffee

I'll catch up later.  So much good.  So much sad. 

Yesterday I left for a bike ride that was supposed to be 2.5-3 hours.  The idea was to ride down to Carlton and back.  There was a strong wind blowing north to south and I was flying on the first part of the journey. 

I knew the return would be hard, but that was okay.  As I let the tailwind blow me south I spun and enjoyed the long awaited sunshine.  

When I turned around my pace slowed and my heart rate climbed. For reasons I can't figure out, there were yellow marmots off on both sides of the road scurrying around as if they had just been let out of school.  It provided a welcome distraction as I fought the headwind. 

I've been down this quiet road dozens of times and there are still things to see for the first time.  As my mind wandered my pace would slow and I had to concentrate to maintain a decent level of effort.  

I recalled hearing about a gravel race in horrid conditions where the winner finished with an average power output of 330 watts for five hours and an average speed of sixteen miles and hour. With that thought swirling in my head, I didn't feel so bad pushing into the headwind. 

As I climbed the hill approaching home, my legs felt the nearly three hours of riding in them. That was okay.  I love the process. I love the long miles, the sore quads, the sun on my back. In this time when people go to extreme lengths to avoid being uncomfortable, I embrace it.  I grow from it and it keeps me young.  At least, that is what I tell myself. 

Do we need all this fancy stuff?

You like these fancy bike gimmicks?

Today as our crew rode in a steady Seattle drizzle we were totally comfortable.  I remarked to McWoodie, "What did we do before we had Gabba's?"   

The migration from 23mm tires to 25's then tubeless 25's then tubeless 28's may seem like a change in fashion, but the superior traction means safety and as members of the AARP demographic, safety matters.  

Our clothing, which again one could argue is nothing but fashion, keeps us warm and dry in conditions that make most people want to stay inside and drink coffee.  Looking at pictures from ten years ago, I recall cold, wet, Sunday morning rides that left me cold for three days. 

Hydraulic brakes and bigger gear ratios may seem like iterative improvements, but the difference is stunning.  I have sold bikes because I decided to replace them with disc brake bikes.  

For those who scoff at these advances, they can ride their lugged frame bikes with vintage brakes wearing soggy wool and leather.  They can do what all cults do and preach that their way is the only way and everyone else are fools.  I am sure the added suffering will build their character.  That is a good thing. Riding slow bikes when cold and wet requires a lot of character. 

I traded my character in on a new bike with hydraulic discs, a compact crank and Di2. 

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.