Sunrise in the morning, stay a while

Here is a newsflash for you: Blogger works pretty well at 6 am. Since I'm here on the right coast, I guess that means once you all get to "work" and start asking their servers to start serving, all those glitches we know yet don't love so much start glitching. If this weren't Wompatuck night, I would be out for a run or a spin too, rather than wasting valuable summer morning time blogging. As it is, I think I'll wrap this up quickly, pack up my stuff and head to work so that I can get out early and head down for a good pre-race warm up.

Last night, the joy of summer made it possible for me to get in an almost two hour ride, even though I didn't head out until 7 pm. JG met me out on the road, and despite his training having been on the back burner all year, he still kept inching ahead (half wheel hell), pushing the pace up as we rode side by side. His pedal stroke remains smooth and powerful. He may have been sucking wind here and there, but those powerful sprinter's legs will still pack punch once he gets the energy systems back up to snuff. I finished up pretty much in the dark, but it felt great to do the longer after work ride that used to be so much a part of summer life. Enjoy it while we can.

Reading other people's blogs has been fun lately, even though athletic types are naturally updating on a much more sporadic basis now that we are in season. Most of the bloggers that I follow seem to have been pursuing cycling for just a few years. Compared with running and swimming, cycling is unnatural. Bikes weren't invented until just over a century ago. We take them for granted, but this was an ingenious invention. Once they moved past high-wheelers and onto "safety" bicycles, the fundamental design stayed exactly the same. Pretty impressive. In all of human existence, nobody ever did anything like pedal a bicycle before. Yet this very simple machine proved to be something we could adapt to. Yes, they have been refined, but the basics of the machine have needed no changes whatsoever since the days of Major Taylor.

What does this have to do with blogging? Reading the blogs of relative "beginners" I am constantly reminded of how ones maturation as a cyclist takes place. Sure, anyone can ride a bike, and the bike's position as a kid's toy is one of the main things holding cycling back from being taken seriously as a sport and a form of adult transportation. Yet of the tens of millions of people who learn to ride a bike, just a handful of us ever become truly proficient at it. Reading the blogs, I am reminded of how good it felt to finally start to realize the potential of these simple, yet marvelous machines.

The old school racers used to say it takes five to seven years to develop as a cyclist. Those years of work are worth it. Compared to a general population who "know how to ride a bike," even a recreational riders puts in more mileage every year than most do in a lifetime. The real payoff comes when you take it further and further. Since most people you run into out on the road have barely adapted past caveman status, it is very easy to fall into the trap of thinking you have learned all there is to learn, and that you are "good at this." Don't believe it. Racers get painted as snobs, but competition exposes our weaknesses like nothing else, and forces us to push past the comfort zone and continue further on our path of adaptation to mastering this unnatural machine. Stay with it, and learn the things that cannot be taught. The rewards are immense. As great as it is to read someones revelations about how their riding suddenly seemed to move up to a new level, that is nothing compared to experiencing it yourself. Thanks for reading.