As you may have noticed there have not been any brevet reports on this blog since the 200K I rode in April. I haven't been riding my Fujin since that brevet either. This has been puzzling me since I love that bike and I really like going out on the highway for long fast road rides. I've spent sometime pondering why, despite wanting to do these sorts of rides, I'm just not making it happen. The answer lies in a simple equation of social interaction. Last year during the rando season I had a GF and was spending lots of time with her. This meant that getting out on the Fujin for a long day on the bike was a nice break from being social and at the end of the ride I knew I could connect with her again and hang out. Being single this spring and working alone at home most of the time - social interactions are at a premium. If I don't make an effort I can easily not see another human being for 24hrs. Under these circumstances when I choose to ride a bike my first priority is to ride with a friend [none of whom want to do any long distance riding] and my second priority is to ride in town where there are other people. The idea of getting on my recumbent and spending 5-8hrs alone on the highway is quite unappealing at the moment.
Reflecting on this the whole situation made a lot of sense to me and frankly I don't feel particularly bad about it. I've managed to get lots of riding in with people I care about and helped motivate some of them to ride more. I'm having lots of fun. I'm just not doing one very specific kind of riding right now, but I know that things change and I'll be back on my bent cruising the highways in the not too distant future. I've also never appreciated how cycling feeds my emotion needs and how I can balance out my social life by choosing the different types of rides I focus on.
The other thing I have learned from this is that to reach my full rando potential clearly I need to be married...LMAO...just kidding!!....=-)
Reflecting on this the whole situation made a lot of sense to me and frankly I don't feel particularly bad about it. I've managed to get lots of riding in with people I care about and helped motivate some of them to ride more. I'm having lots of fun. I'm just not doing one very specific kind of riding right now, but I know that things change and I'll be back on my bent cruising the highways in the not too distant future. I've also never appreciated how cycling feeds my emotion needs and how I can balance out my social life by choosing the different types of rides I focus on.
The other thing I have learned from this is that to reach my full rando potential clearly I need to be married...LMAO...just kidding!!....=-)
9 comments:
Hey Vik, good on you for just enjoying a different realm of the cycling world. I think the variety of it has kept me so interested for so long. Sometimes it's a fixie, sometimes a snow bike, sometimes a recument. Always great! Enjoy your rides whatever form they may be.
Cheers.
Do you have any local riding groups that train for distance? Here in the SF Bay Area, there's quite a few groups that have group training rides for centuries, double centuries and brevets on a regular basis - they are potential "social" training outlets.
Our local rando club is quiet small and no one else rides a recumbent which makes training together challenging.
you should spend time on a TRIKE . dam they are ton of fun and you will get hooked ,
Hey Vik.
completely understand the problem - I work at home and can go days without seeing another human. Now the woman who likes long distance cycling - that one is worth marrying :-)
-andy (NWT, tikit).
Bring the Tikit to Toronto sometime, and we can go on a social 200k brevet. Perhaps being on a folder will slow you down to my pace, or maybe not :)
Tanya - I've got a Dahon Speed D7 at my mother's in TO so I'm definitely up for a ride when I am in town next - however, there is zero chance I'll do a 200K brevet on that bike!!!...it doesn't exactly scream long distance speed or comfort...=-)
Hey Vik,
I was wondering why I had not heard any rando stories out of you in a bit.
I guess since I am married and have kids, I get to rando a lot.
Hopefully you can get back out there some next year.
No matter what or where, you're still riding and that is important.
Have you thought about a CF as a rando rig? I keep thinking of one for those super hilly rides we have in the Apalachians.
Hey Scott,
If was not going to ride a bent for brevets I'd get a lightweight DF bike like the rest of the local rando folks are riding.
If you want to have some company on these rides up here you need to be able to stay with the fast group.
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