A Little Help Here

Ya know, I've always been known to be an outcast, a loner. Even as a kid in elementary school I didn't get good marks in the "works well with others" category. It just wasn't really my thing. You could blame it on me having just one sibling and she was six years older than me so I was basically at it on my own growing up. Or, it could just be my personality. Either way, I sure was glad to have some help this past Sunday.

As I continue my training for my first century ride coming up in September (Shenandoah Valley Century) I find myself on longer and longer training rides. This past Sunday was supposed to be a 50-mile ride. As many of you may well know, 50 miles by yourself can be a loooonnnng ride. Every long training ride I've done up until this point has been solo. I can set my own pace and leave when I want to and take a quick break when I want to. I'm not confined by riding in a group. However, my thoughts on that changed over the weekend.

A good friend of mine has been trying to get me to ride with him and we just haven't been able to work it out. But we finally managed to get it done. He was coming off a minor procedure on his back and needed to get back on the bike for his own sanity. I, on the other hand, felt like it would be a great time for us to ride together and learn something about riding. My buddy set up a route for us to ride and I was going to meet him about 15 miles into the ride. Well, due to my lack of map reading skills I ended up misreading the map and taking the way I THOUGHT he laid out the route. My bad! When I finally met up with him I had ridden about 4 extra miles than originally planned. No biggie I thought. I was feeling good and excited to ride with my friend for the first time.

We hopped on our bikes in New Hope and started riding a nice conversational pace. What I didn't realize was that just by riding with him I was keeping my pace and cadence higher than I had previously been doing. I had no clue until I looked down at my computer. I just kinda laughed to myself and kept spinning. Other than this chasing after us out of no where:

and me almost riding into a car head-on to avoid the killer dog we had no major issues. The sun was shining bright and the sky was as blue as could be. About another mile or so into our ride we both looked up and the sky had that Tornado Alley look to it. We thought we would miss the storm or that it would blow through quickly so we kept pedaling. After another 10 minutes passed my buddy said, "Stay on my wheel. We're going to try to push it into Weyers Cave." No problem I thought. I was feeling good and Weyers Cave was only about 5 minutes away. Then we saw what had to be this:

Yeah, that's right. I think it was the lightning bolt that Zeus was missing in the Percy Jackson series. It was at that point my buddy suggested we pull off at the Shenandoah Valley Airport and see if the storm passes. Well, about 30 seconds after we reached the airport and hoped off our bikes the storm blew in. It was more like what I picture monsoon season to look like. We ended up in the airport terminal only to find the roof was leaking in two places and we couldn't see 20 yards in front of us. The layover was good and bad. It gave us a chance to chit chat but it also gave my muscles a chance to cool down and get tight.

As the storm finally passed we jumped back on the bikes and continued our ride. The sun was now out again and we were making good time again. That is until I looked ahead of me and saw a climb that I was definitely not ready for 40 miles into the ride. Not to mention a jacked up pick-up truck was behind me revving the engine. I pulled over and jumped off to stretch out my now aching back and hamstrings before making the climb.

I'm sure that the climb wasn't nearly as bad as I was making it seem in my head but as I started up the climb I heard my legs go, "You idiot! What are you doing?! You're not freakin' Cadel Evans!" But nevertheless, I kept pedaling. This is where I'm so glad that I had a riding partner. I managed to stay focused on his wheel even while he was effortlessly pedaling away from me. I managed to make it to the top and we continued on our journey. Yes, I probably said some things about him in my head that I have to repent for but I'm still glad he was there. He was able to stay with me and keep me going even when I was dying! But he never made fun of me or made me feel like crap because I was an inferior rider. He just kept talking to me and pushing me through it.

So, with that being said, I'm thankful to have given up my loner status for that day. It made a world of difference and it reminded me of just how much fun cycling can be. It reminded me of all the times as a kid me and my buddies were pedaling our BMX bikes all over town. Yes, you had to go over all kinds of terrain but it was fun because you were with your friends. And it's after that Sunday ride that I'm thankful to have a riding buddy once more!

Changing the Game

Well, its about five weeks into my century training and I have to say, things have gone fairly well. My enjoyment from being on the bike has grown exponentially and so has my fitness level. But, as I tend to do from time to time, I managed to become OCD about it. My disorder almost caused me to stop riding...almost.

Let me explain. My sister and I tend to have moments of OCD...you know, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. We go off on tangents and things around us have to be just right. If they're not then we starting freaking out. For example, my sister and I both must place silverware in the dishwasher or drainer in a particular order. Me, I like to put all the sharp knives in one spot, then all the forks, then spoons, and finally butter knives. In my head this is extremely logical because when it's time to put the silverware up I don't have to pick and choose through the different slots for all the forks. I can just get them from one place and put them up. In my OCD world this saves me time. My wife on the other hand, she just puts the silverware any place and that drives me nuts! I can't stand it!

Another tendency of mine is to make sure all the DVDs and Blu-Ray movies are put in their proper boxes and stacked just so. If they're out of order or there is a disc missing from its case then I freak out. I won't stop until I find it and it's all back in the proper place. As you can see, I tend to obsess a little bit. This was a sure-fire recipe for disaster when it came to my training.

Yes, I was and am meticulous when it comes to keeping my training log...almost a little too meticulous. I found myself wanting to give up and pout if I had to miss a day of training because of a family issue or if I couldn't go the required mileage for the day because work caused a shortage in time to ride. I HAD to have my iPhone with me and the MapMyRide app had to be just right for the ride. And if for some reason the app missed a part of the route then I would get frustrated and feel like the ride was unsuccessful. It was a downward spiral.

Then the other day the unthinkable happened. I started telling myself that I don't want to ride anymore and that I didn't want to train. I started going through the list of things that would give me a way out of riding and training. I was supposed to go for an 18 mile ride for pace that particular day and I just didn't want to do it. Then from the depths of within I managed to convince myself to just get up and put my gear on and ride. Only this time I told myself that I would not use the MapMyRide app to monitor the route and elevation. I also told myself that I would not look down at my cycling computer for speed, cadence or mileage. I talked myself into "just riding". And a funny thing happened along the way...I actually enjoyed the ride. Before I was so caught up in meeting training goals and pushing myself through certain training checkpoints. If I failed to meet a training goal then I would be disappointed and would try to make it up the next day. But now, after putting away the goal sheet and technology and just riding I found myself making more headway than before. My overall speed and cadence were faster, climbs were easier, and I found myself just enjoying the scenery. It was great! It was what riding your bike is supposed to be.

Since that day I have not used the MapMyRide app at all. Instead of focusing on a particular amount of miles to ride I simply just pick a route to ride that is roughly about the same distance or maybe a little more and just get after it. I enjoy being in the saddle now. Before it felt like work. Now it feels like play and my performance on the bike is improving because of it.

So, take heed my friends, if you find yourselves in a rut from training then just go out for a ride. Don't worry about the numbers...just ride. You'll be amazed at how much you enjoy riding again.

To Shave or Not to Shave

You had to know that as a Fred I was going to address this issue at some point. Well, after a long few days on the bike I think the time has come to dive right in!

A topic of great debate for recreational cyclists has been whether to shave your legs or not to shave them. I've heard compelling arguments for both sides. I honestly think the choice is yours. I mean, if you want to go ahead and shave your legs so they match with the tan lines you already have on them then be my guest. If you want to ride with legs that look like this:

Well, you can do that too! The choice is yours. Even though your riding buddies may be appalled at that bush sticking out from under your riding shorts. But with hair that thick there's no way you can get road rash, right?

To be honest, when I first got into cycling in 2004 I resisted the temptation to shave my legs. It wasn't that I had some kind of phobia against it. I had shaved my legs in college while playing basketball. We did it for much the same reason that some cyclists shave their legs now...to make them look more muscular. Aesthetics aside, there is a more practical reason to shave your legs: road rash.

It's going to happen, you know it and I know. At some point you're going to bite the dust on your bike and it's going to hurt. There are no two ways around it. Everyone in the world that has ever ridden a bike has taken a spill on the bike. If there's a person out there that has never crashed then I want to meet them. That has to be a Guiness world record. Now that we know you're going down at some point you have to start thinking about the after-effects. You'll have to clean and bandage the wound(s). Cleaning and bandaging will be much easier on the legs if they have been shaved. The bandage tape will stick better and you'll avoid the doctor having to shave your legs if you have to make a trip to the ER. A scene from the cycling documentary, Hell on Wheels, shows former rider Rolf Aldag standing in a hotel bath tub shaving his legs and giving this exact reason for doing it. As a side note, if you've never seen the movie it is available for streaming on Netflix. You can also purchase it by clicking on the Amazon widget link on the right side of this blog.

The million dollar question now is, are you going to do it. And this applies mainly to the male riders...although there are some females out there who shall remain nameless that like to keep their legs hairy. For some reason I just can't see myself cuddling with my wife and feeling her hairy legs against me, but hey, that's just me! Let me know your stance in the comments...do you shave or stay hairy?