Commuting - Stuck!

At first, when I timidly (but with excitement) etched out a 2.5 mile trip by bike to the bus stop some years ago, I was a wide-eyed
beginner. The thrill of doing something new like this was too cool. Just the idea of it was stimulating.

The wonder and amazement increased as I kept lengthening my route, my motto being, "where there is a will, there is a way." I can remember my astonished satisfaction upon riding all the way from work to my house for the first time (I told my wife, expecting applause, but got a skeptical look that said, "just what in the world is this going to come to?") Unfortunately for me, little did I know just how far it had already come!

Next, I reached another level of achievement: riding all the way to work and all the way home for a total of about 28 - 30 miles round trip. Then today, I reached another benchmark: riding all the way by bike every day of the week, 148.5 miles, while maintaining my strength (not overtraining.) I feel confident I could continue this week's pattern every week, with proper food and rest.

But now my thoughts go to Cambronne and Stumon (and many others like them who routinely log high mileage every week.) These cyclists (particularly General Cambronne) are what I would call, "stuck."

"Stuck?"

Yes, sad but true. And that may be where I am going.

You see, General Cambronne now lives almost within walking distance from work. He could easily cycle there in short order. But what does he do? He "takes the long way," making it a little 20-mile jaunt, both to, and from, work. 40 miles is what he needs for a "fix." Cambronne is stuck. And I am too, I'm afraid.

In fact, it is so insidious, most of us already are, though we do not know it. We are so busy looking forward to our next level of achievement that we are not aware of being stuck. It works like this: one day, we wake up and realize that unless we maintain our current level of cycling activity, we will start to regress. Since this is unthinkable, we must cycle at our current level to maintain our performance (and even increase it, thus rendering us ever more "beyond the point of no return.") In sad cases like Serge's, we become a specatcle, cycling to no apparent destination just to avoid losing our physical abilities. We are, like it or not, incurable cycling addicts.

:eek:

(What a way to go...) ;)

Sometimes, when feeling stuck, it's nice to just cycle. Without measurement. My Trek has an odometer, but my Shogun does not. So sometimes I cycle on my Shogun and just meander. If I meander enough, I may not be able to calculate how far I've gone. Or what my average is. Or what my max speed is. Or anyhing like that.

Sometimes, when feeling stuck, it's nice to not cycle. Explore other pursuits. Nothing like time away from the bicycle to make one anxious for a bike ride.

Pete is correct, cycling is a wonderful addiction!

Normally, I never look at the odometer on my bike untill the end of a ride, so I know what to log. This morning I left the house with the intention of hitting the 1k mark for the Roubaix. When I was about 4 miles from home, I found myself calculating how far I had to go before I could turn around and arrive back home showing the 1000 miles. I switched the display to the odometer, and watched it for about a mile before I got mad at myself! I had the time, I was feeling good, and the bike was running perfectly, so why not finish my normal morning ride! Why cheat myself!?! So I switched back to the time, spun her up, and had a ball!

I haven't had a computer on my bike since it got stolen from university about two months ago. At first it was good not to have one, but now I'm starting to wonder how far I've ridden on a particular day. I think I'll get a new one in the near future.

Chris

If you don't need cadence and a lot of extras, you might consider the low-priced CatEye Velo2. I really like mine, which I put on the road bike about a month ago. It's very legible and the way the switch is set into it, it's almost impossible to erase or change anything by accident. Also, you can re-install your old odometer reading when you change batteries.

Thanks Jon, I'll give that some thought.

Chris

I wonder if it's like the "Peter Principle", where you rise to your level of incompetence, then stay there.

Pete, you got me. I read your post earlier this morning and thought, "That won't happen to me for quite awhile, I'm just beginning." But, while walking to the bus after work, I realized that it had already happened to me...fitness walking. I got up to 8 miles per day last year, then had to cut back to balance out with the rest of life: wife, children, dogs, yard, etc. I now fitness walk 2 to 4 miles per day, but I'm increasing my bike mileage each week (I'm up to 5.25 miles, 3 times a week) so that I can increase my fitness in my commuting time.

Does this mean that I will keep riding "just one more bus stop" until I'm riding all the way to work? (That last 5 miles will be quite a jump.:eek: )

Seriously, congratulations on the 5 day per week commuting. :thumbup:

Kevin S.

Kevin,

I just can't get the image of Cambronne (or Chris L, Orguasch, Mike, Stumon, etc.) and his "20-mile detour" to work in the morning out of my mind. I am convinced this is our future! :cry:

Originally posted by Pete Clark
I just can't get the image of Cambronne (or Chris L, Orguasch, Mike, Stumon, etc.) and his "20-mile detour" to work in the morning out of my mind. I am convinced this is our future! :cry:

You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile...

Chris

:eek:

;)

I always ride to work. Sometimes, though, my wife insists on picking me up because I'm on the way to somewhere we need to go. It drives me nuts. It makes me want to fabricate an errand just to ride. I often suggest that we meet halfway at the TCBY for frozen yogurt. That way, I get at least 2.5-3 miles in, but I'm not as sweaty.

Obsessively,

Jonathan

Actually, I rode for many years with no distance/performance logging device on my bike. I sometimes used a stopwatch to time my commutes, but I invariably forgot to either start or stop the thing. I would depart from home, and arrive at my destination with little thought about the trip... faster than walking, less expensive and more reliable than Metró.

It has only been since August 1994 that I have kept up with my performance, and then only because the shop where I purchased my Trek gave me a Specialized Speedzone "ordinateur de bord," or "on-board computer." The little LCD devil never ceased to remind me of my advancing age and declining performance numbers. Someday, I shall have my revenge, by leaving it in place, but covering the display with black tape. Sorry little fellow, I can't see you!

I am sometimes nostalgic for the days when I would arrive home and think to myself "that was a very good ride. I felt fast."

Now, I like my long morning and afternoon commutes, but I do not feel obsessed by them. Today is a rain day, and I've a proper car outside waiting to deliver me home.

Stu... stumon... (ask him about his screen name) is another case entirely. Whenever I see him, we talk about bikes, period. He is as singleminded as a man can be and still keep a job and a home. So Stu, if you read this, please, go home, watch tele, read a book. (He won't read this, because he is doubtless out riding!)

Talk about stuck, how about Jack LaLane? Last I remember, he
was swimming in the ocean, towing rowboats behind him, one rowboat for each year old he was.

Now in his 80's, he has a young wife, fast car and probably is rich.
Do you think it might work for me?

Maybe I could start cycling 1 mile for every year old I become, each day. (I have a little catching up to do, or I am only 28.)

I want to be one of those old wirey guys that still keep going even into their 90's. :thumbup:

Someone once thought I'd grow out of cycling (can you believe that?) and asked me what I'd do with life after I stopped riding.

There is only one thing I intend doing after cycling - die.

Chris

Originally posted by Cambronne
The little LCD devil never ceased to remind me of my advancing age and declining performance numbers. Someday, I shall have my revenge, by leaving it in place, but covering the display with black tape. Sorry little fellow, I can't see you!!)

Another solution is to mount extra magnets--as many as you feel you need--so that the computer records 2x, 3x, etc. as fast a speed and distance as is really the case. :)

Originally posted by JonR


Another solution is to mount extra magnets--as many as you feel you need--so that the computer records 2x, 3x, etc. as fast a speed and distance as is really the case. :)

Har har har!! JonR, I don't know what you do for work, but I hope it incorporates some of your rich creativity.

"Look everybody, I'm going 100 miles an hour on my bicycle. My cyclocomputer says its so - and computers can't lie, ya know".

Be sure to post a picture on your cool website

Originally posted by Chris L
Someone once thought I'd grow out of cycling (can you believe that?) and asked me what I'd do with life after I stopped riding.

There is only one thing I intend doing after cycling - die.

Chris
I'd like to ask these buggers what they are doing with their life now. (Wait, let me guess: they sit around and watch OTHER people's lives!)

To them, I say, "Get a LIFE!" (Then come back and talk with me...) :D

Originally posted by Pete Clark

I'd like to ask these buggers what they are doing with their life now. (Wait, let me guess: they sit around and watch OTHER people's lives!)


Worse yet, they sit watching "reality TV" and think it's about life...

Originally posted by JonR

Worse yet, they sit watching "reality TV" and think it's about life...

They recently featured an Australian version of outback "survivor" that was filmed just outside the town of Beaudesert. A town of 5,000 that's about 70km from a major city in Brisbane and this is supposed to be the "outback". I hope they never visit my old home town of Werris Creek! One of the people in this show has apparently now turned up as an extra in a movie.

Says a lot about the whole "reality TV" scam doesn't it?

Chris

I cant stop commuting .HELP! even though i now only need to work 3 days a week unless i get that morning and evening ride i suffer withdrawl symptoms , what is causing this? , have i commuted so long that it has become an addiction like smoking or alchahol.
Is there a society that helps people like me . no what I mean , cyclists equivalent of "alchoholics anonomize" . perhaps a phsyciatrist could help . cant imagine what treatment they would subscribe , maybe a new sub- paragraph to a "section 24"case. could be written .
It could be fame at last .
Headlines in the " lancet" cyclist causes re- writting of "section 24" owing to his inability to stop commuting.

Originally posted by willic
Headlines in the " lancet" cyclist causes re- writting of "section 24" owing to his inability to stop commuting.
"National Health Service Brought to Knees by Compulsive Cyclist Therapy"

Yes! JonR I love that .

That would put another nail in our N. H. S, coffin (excuse the pun)
lol.
Hospitals full with de-arranged cyclists!
Willic:D