It has been a long period of silence for me. For some time I have been struggling with issues documented on prior posts...hips, knees, etc. To be honest it has been very frustrating, has forced me to really figure out what I really want to spend my time doing. I certainly have appreciated the gifts that running has given me over the past 10 years or so; it has been a great outlet for my energies and a great focus for me to distract from all the other stuff going on in life. If anything, running has been a bit too much of a distraction...in fact I once read in another blog or article that the author figured he could run his company if he put some of his focus from training on a marathon towards his work. This has certainly been a bit true of me; i.e. the lack of excitement I sometimes feel at work has been re-directed towards whatever goal I was focusing on for running. The problem is that my running has really lacked real focus now for some time. If I look at the progression of my training since the Denver Marathon of 2008 I kind of think I have been wallowing and a bit directionless. Last summer I had a great couple of races, but none of them were particularly long or difficult to train for; ones I could simply get up and do. I just have not had the motivation to get it going for something like a marathon again, I have started a couple of times on a marathon progression, but something always got in the way whether it be the time of the long runs or simply the barrier of some injury. And, if I think about my summer last year it seems that the runs I did I simply did for fun, i.e. Eldora and Breck Crest; both off road, both a bit of adventure. It would seem that what I really want to do these days with my limited free time are activities that are truly fun for me. For me over the past years, running long distances on the road or slight trail has ceased being fun. The shorter efforts still motivate me like a trip up Green or any of the Flatirons, but simply pounding for 2 hours is not doing it and quite honestly anytime I am hitting 90+ minutes things start hurt whether it be the IT, the HIP, the foot or general knee stuff. More focused runners would certainly get right over to Rodgers or some other PT to get things fixed. At this time in my life I really do not want to do this. I do want to run, but I simply want to run on my own terms under the pain rather than following a structured training program. Maybe this will change, just not right now.
So, now what? Well, I have returned to my roots...biking. I started riding back in grade school following in my dad's footsteps. He used to ride huge distances growing up when I was young...I still remember his old Raleigh with its beautiful, sculpted lugs. This influence resulted in me purchasing my first real bike in high school, a gorgeous blue Swiss bike called a Cilo. It had the lugs, the chrome fork and Shimano 600 drivetrain with tubulars. Wonderful ride. Had this ride until College when I need to sell the thing for cash Freshman year. Summers through college were spent swinging a hammer working for my dad which fortunately resulted in enough money to buy my first mountain bike...a black Specialized Rockhopper. This was fine until I started riding it around the mountain single-track in Southern Vermont and up and down Stratton Mountain....this was too much for its recreational components and resulted in two broken real axels. So, saved up more money for the first real ride, another black Specialized, but the Stumpjumper this time. If you know bike history, you will know that the Stumpjumper was the first real production mountain bike back in the 80's. Anyway, the bike was good enough to launch me into mountain bike racing. So, summers junior and senior year were spent building houses and riding up and down Stratton while racing on weekends. I was never really good, mostly a middle packer in the Sport class, but I certainly had fun. After college I stopped racing, but kept riding as much as I could even upgrading to a Klein back on 95. This all continued until I was transferred to Cleveland for work. Unfortunately Cleveland is not known for its mountain biking and not really for its road biking either. This is when I turned to running. Even after moving to Colorado in 2000 I continued running and the rest is history. I did do a lot of riding however after moving here. I even upgraded to a full-suspension mountain bike (see above...the yellow tires have been replaced by black ones!) which has served me well, mostly before the boys were born. The problem was that I always had to drive at least 30+ minutes to get to any of the riding which again pushed me back to running.
Well, now the kids are older...I have more time (sort of). I also have been very fascinated with
cyclocross (
check this out as well) now for some time. Every year there is a cross race right by my house at the Louisville Rec center....it has always looked very fun and very hard. And, a good
friend of mine has been into cross now for sometime. So, with the green light from my wife after getting a decent bonus I took the plunge and purchased a cross bike at
Louisville Cyclery. And, I have been riding ever since whether it be back and forth to work, around the trails of the Morgul Bismark Look or out to the Teller Watertower. And, it has felt great!
So, the plan now is to ride the roads and trails with the Bianchi as much as possible with a mountain bike ride on the Jamis here and there. Picked up some new cables for the mountain bike as being 8 years old at this point some maintenance is required. There are a bunch of short track races happening on the cross course at the Rec Center I will be doing and then maybe a real Cross County Race at Breck or Keystone this summer for the heck of it. Finally, once the fall comes I will dip my toes into the Cross scene here in Colorado. Who knows what will happen, maybe the complexity and cost of biking will turn me off again. However, I don't think so. It is just too much fun!
More to come!
2 comments:
I am glad to hear that YOU are progressing with YOUR journey. Not all roads lead to Rome, but there are many ways to get there.
And if / when you want to run, keep in touch.
Welcome to the dark side--Cyclocross Nation. Pick up your welcome pack, which includes a Belgian waffle, a pint of Duvel, and a cowbell, at the door.
I remember my first cyclocross race. It was pouring rain, and just above freezing. Being a Portland fall, it had been raining for weeks, so the course was just deep, deep mud. My race began at 7 am, and it was still a little dark.
Some people were in costume. Everyone was muddy. There was blood, and vomit. Someone tried to hand me a beer on my third lap--at 7:20 am. The idea repulsed me, but by my fifth lap I was looking for him.
Shouldering my bike as I hurdled the barriers, I remember thinking, Dear God just don't fall over. There was a bark mulch pit that the few guys on mountain bikes were riding over; the rest of us were running it.
After it ended, as I lay in a mud puddle gasping for breath, my wife--God bless her, standing there in the downpour by my side--just couldn't believe I'd found that fun.
That's not what I remember best, though. What I remember best is the crowd of people cheering for me on every lap, encouraging me through the hardest parts of the course, calling out to me by the description of my bike or what I was wearing so I'd know they meant me. Ringing cowbells for me. It was 7 am, in the rain--that means they got up early to come cheer on someone they didn't even know. That was remarkable to me.
And I was hooked.
As I've said before, a cross bike is like the bikes we had as kids. No road bike or mountain bike or jumping bike--just one bike that we rode through the woods, on the street, in the dirt, that we jumped with and skidded with and rode to school. One bike.
I guess I shouldn't be welcoming you, after all. I should be welcoming you back.
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