Training with The G.O.T. Bike

 Training is not a four letter word (trust me, I counted), but I still have my reservations about using it.  No, not the word, but the actual act of training.  Differences between training and just riding-your-darn-bike can be huge: for example, the former often involves a lot more numbers, but I'm not so sure it has to, or at least not for everyone.  I actually like numbers, am a huge fan of algebra, and possibly even helped produce a few more fans of the subject through tutoring years ago, but I find those digits can also get in the way of my actual enjoyment of riding a bike.  A more concise phrasing might be: I prefer to focus of the places I ride through, rather than the zones I've ridden in, and while this might seem detrimental my goal of racing well, for me, it seems the opposite.

I partook in formalized training a few times, and unlike Bill Clinton, I may have even inhaled, but the end results for me were slower races.  Why?  A set schedule of training is my ultimate burnout tool and ultimately robs me of all my Grit on race day.  Angela Duckworth, a research psychologist and co-host of  the fantastic "No Stupid Questions" podcast, wrote a whole book, and then a second one, on the magical trait of Grit.  In addition to good luck while swimming in the genetic soup pool, a successful competitor definitely needs Grit.  It's that ability to dig a little deeper and hurt a little more on race day, but if a fog of numbers clouds my view of everything else that is wonderful about riding a bike, then I just don't have it.  I may have a fitter body, but not the access to all that it can do.

So, this past Friday, I went for an eight hour training ride that took me nine and a half hours.  I've gotten used to riding being a lot more than just riding, with stops for groceries, or even exploration on foot.  My bikes get locked places.  So, my long day of riding also included an hour and a half of browsing three thrift stores, procuring more food to fuel future riding, and a short chat with a panhandler.  You see, it wasn't just a ride, and for me, that is best kind of riding, as well as a celebration of just how useful a machine the bicycle can be.  Now, I recognize that I've organized an extremely low cost lifestyle for myself, and that gives me a luxury of time that many others don't have.  I also think it's great that training schedules work so well for others, possibly even when it make them faster than I am.  But for those of you a bit more like me, I let's give each other permission to enjoy simply riding our bikes, even if we should be "training".