The Ultimate Hardcore Novice?
09-16-08, 09:02 AM
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The Ultimate Hardcore Novice?
One of the best short pieces Bicycling ever ran, IMHO. The story of this novice makes me scream "I'M NOT WORTHY! I'M NOT WORTHY!":
https://www.bicycling.com/article/1,6...5079-1,00.html
"At 35, _5-foot-6 and around 190 pounds, he was in the worst shape of his life. "I was constantly tired," he remembers. "And I was suffering one illness or cold after another. My cholesterol and blood pressure were alarmingly high. I looked terrible. I felt bitter--and old." But within three months, Jeremy progressed from toodling around the block on a cruiser to logging 200-mile weeks on our group rides. More important: His life improved right along with his cycling...... His hyper-speed ascension from wheelsucker to hammer was like a highlight reel for the midlife discovery of cycling. And that was the problem. Jeremy's skills were still those of the rank neophyte. He made all the dumb beginner mistakes, but at lead-pack velocity. In an 18-month period, he put himself in the hospital three times. First he cracked a collarbone trying to avoid a van. About nine months later, he skidded in a turn and ended up wearing a rigid cervical collar for six weeks while his broken neck healed. Nine months after that, back on the bike, a pothole sent him to the ICU with the other collarbone broken, two cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Nobody--not his wife, his son, his friends, not even his cycling mentors--wanted him to get back on a bike. We even recommended running. Then we realized that the answer lay in the problem: We needed to develop his novice riding skills at the same hyper-speed level his fitness had grown. So we began Project Jeremy, an intensive program that focused on the four weaknesses that were keeping our eager pupil, like all beginners, from riding at his best....."
https://www.bicycling.com/article/1,6...5079-1,00.html
"At 35, _5-foot-6 and around 190 pounds, he was in the worst shape of his life. "I was constantly tired," he remembers. "And I was suffering one illness or cold after another. My cholesterol and blood pressure were alarmingly high. I looked terrible. I felt bitter--and old." But within three months, Jeremy progressed from toodling around the block on a cruiser to logging 200-mile weeks on our group rides. More important: His life improved right along with his cycling...... His hyper-speed ascension from wheelsucker to hammer was like a highlight reel for the midlife discovery of cycling. And that was the problem. Jeremy's skills were still those of the rank neophyte. He made all the dumb beginner mistakes, but at lead-pack velocity. In an 18-month period, he put himself in the hospital three times. First he cracked a collarbone trying to avoid a van. About nine months later, he skidded in a turn and ended up wearing a rigid cervical collar for six weeks while his broken neck healed. Nine months after that, back on the bike, a pothole sent him to the ICU with the other collarbone broken, two cracked ribs and a punctured lung. Nobody--not his wife, his son, his friends, not even his cycling mentors--wanted him to get back on a bike. We even recommended running. Then we realized that the answer lay in the problem: We needed to develop his novice riding skills at the same hyper-speed level his fitness had grown. So we began Project Jeremy, an intensive program that focused on the four weaknesses that were keeping our eager pupil, like all beginners, from riding at his best....."
09-17-08, 06:42 AM
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My point, and the author's, was that he had those accidents because Jeremy pushed himself harder than most novices, far beyond his skill level. Frankly, I've been afraid to do the same. Fear has been holding back my wheels.
09-17-08, 07:47 AM
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but many of the other skills sound useful.
