...does a dog have to bite you before you stop playing with him? With cyclocross mania in full swing, this is a question I'm asking myself. My reason for giving up on cross in the past can be summed up in one word - injuries. Some people never seem to get them. Others do, but quickly recover. Injuries both large and small have always been one of my main limiters. Push hard in training, some body part complains.
Then there are injuries resulting from the rough and tumble. Cyclocross breeds these kinds of injuries: broken seatpost knife wounds on the inner thigh, bruised shins, sore and out of joint hips, concussions, groin pulls, fractured wrists, torn menisci, hamstring issues, black eyes, the list goes on.
As much as I don't want to mess up my current training with the potential for injury, I must admit, the Gloucester buzz made me think about doing some cross. Though unable to attend, internet video provided me with a look at how hard everyone was riding. This was no parade. That part is fun. Ride hard or go backwards. Maybe both at the same time. Of course it helps that Gloucester was a highway course. No wonder they got 1200 riders, even if a few complained that the course didn't suck like most of them used to. Take note, the "old school" races draw about 1/10th the riders...
So yeah, that's my little dilemma. Adding to it, I've only ridden my bike once in the past month (yeah, that's right, I rode this week), so I'm not ready for this weekend, and next weekend doesn't really work either. There's always November, but when a couch is all you've been riding for the past four weeks, going up against riders who've been racing anaerobically every single weekend probably would not be too much fun.
Yeah, I know, "harden the fuck up." If I had a nickel for every wiener who's dabbled in bike racing for a few years and is now plastering that advice all over the internet, I might be able to buy a Dugast tubular. Come see me after you've finished your 1000th race, hard guy. As if any of these wankers have anything in common with Stuey... Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, keep smiling.
how do you feel about mountain biking, princess?
ReplyDeleteSolo,
ReplyDeleteI don't have to race 1000 times to tell you this. "Get busy living, or get busy dying." Taken from a very good movie. If you get hurt that only means you are out there risking something. Now go race some cross and forget the finishing place for a sec.
What the fahk, Heywood. Pearls of wisdom from something other than Top Gun?
ReplyDeleteChainbiter, Solo....
Heywood, thanks, but sitting around watching movies IS dieing. And believe me, during the abscess incident, concerned about another 40+ years of geriatric ass maintenance, I started motorcycle shopping and lining up hang gliding lessons.
ReplyDeleteBold, every time I mountain bike, I get a run in my new stockings. It makes me perspire. I like it better on the west coast. Not sure about Colorado, but out here we don't have mountains. We have mosquito infested trails littered with watermelon sized boulders snaking their way through swamps of black mud. I'm not that much of a misery seeker.
Fred, are you going to Chainbiter? It's my favorite course, but this year I was thinking about Porky Gulch. OR, I heard there is a little cross race going on out in Boulder that weekend... $268 round trip on American. Alas, my job transfer goes through on the first, and I don't think blowing off work on that Monday would go over too well. So we're down to Chainbiter or the Gulch. Maybe Bolder will fly the blogger flag out there. He should be all opened up after his half the week before.
The only glitch in Chainbiter is that the wife doesn't know yet...
ReplyDeleteI know Craig, I've seen it; just shows that Australian TV is just as bad as ours. But Stuey brought it to us. A guy who can win Olympic gold medals on the track and then Paris-Roubaix a few years later kinda earned the right to be a hardass.
ReplyDeleteAnd cyclists not funny? Maybe not when they're trying to be. I can think of a few who make me laugh. Or just think of the Little Buckhorn.
And you might be reading the wrong blogs...
Fred, let me know if you want me to give her a call. I've got the calm demeanor of a hostage negotiator that makes people feel comfortable.
ReplyDeleteha! thanks for the laugh!
ReplyDeletei take it as a point of pride, that my comment section is usually better than my posts...
i hope you do too!
seriously though, i think it's easier to walk away from cross, when you've been there, and done that. you have an educated decision and i respect that.
i have a feeling i need to break a wrist or something first, before i can feel the same way...
which sounds VERY wrong.