When I was a kid I rode around the block until it was dark. As a young teenager I rode in a `pack' with other kids. When I was 16 I decided to ride the circumference of Lake Michigan. Then I took up running. That and work and family kept me stretched for a few decades. In my late forties I came back to cycling. It was always a release, for fun. Sometimes for social interaction.
It wasn't until my early fifties that I made a real effort to ride long distances (which amounted to club centuries a few times a month in good weather). That grew to week long events of over one hundred miles a day. Throw in a few one day double centuries.
In 2008 I began riding the recumbent bike. Big improvement. More miles, far less agony (no more saddle sores, sore shoulders, neck pain, numb hands and wrists). I got a `bug' in me to join the UltraMarathon Cycling Association in 2009 for the purpose of setting a few cross State (Illinois and Indiana) speed records.
And then things got complicated, expensive and much less fun. My own fault. I got on the `ultracycling' macho machine. Criminy! The money I spent.
Knowing me, it had to be done. A very, very complicated set of expectations and motives played themselves out over a good five year period.
With significant exceptions (people I met) the fun got extinguished by politics, people wanting to sell bikes, and an enormous amount of `mine is bigger than yours.'
I seem to do most things in `fives.'
I am still very much involved in challenging myself with demanding bicycling activities. But I've returned to the `fun' of it again. I still consider myself an ultracyclist and have the current credentials to prove it.
In some respects, stepping back from attempting to be an illuminatus in the cycling world is like chopping off an arm. There is a mania (and myopia) about it. And giving up an addictive delusion leaves one in a state of intense introspection: what am I getting back for all the energy I'm putting out?
I'm fortunate to live in one of the most exciting, spectacular and challenging places in the world. I can roll out my front door literally instantly have multiple options for meaning and fulfillment.
More to come on this topic. I consider it a welcome maturation process.
We create our reality and then become addicted to what we have created.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a number of years to break that addiction and to create a new reality.
I was tempted to do a 24hr race in August, but the fear of going back to the world of too much is never enough caused me to decide to do something else.
A good prspective, Dan. All of us are on a personal journey of sorts. We only need to read our own map to know where we are going, but sometimes that's not easy to do.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your thoughts so much Dan. You too Larry. Our society seems to revel in "too much is never enough". I think there is more to be realized in thoughtful challenge and just the enjoyment of whatever one does for its own sake.
ReplyDeleteSometimes less, is more. Enjoy the freedom!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous. Appreciate the sentiment. But as far as cycling is concerned I'm riding more -- far more -- and on longer, more demanding courses, than when doing `ultra' events. I'm just not dumping money into someone else's pockets, driving or flying thousands of miles, spending four figures. So, in fact, more is more.
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