I want to talk about pain.
Not the acute pain associated with crashing or poking one's self in the eye, but the pain of pushing yourself on your bike. For it is in this pain that we are stripped of all pretense. It is in this pain that we face our limits.

... it is the presence that hitches a ride up that hill ...

Pain is such an important part of cycling that one's ability to manage it, perhaps even embrace it, defines his experience, defines his riding. Those of you who avoid pain at all cost either have no interest in testing your personal limit or have other aspirations when it comes to cycling. But for those of us who hate being dropped or aren't content spinning up that hill in a 30-24, pain is inevitable.

My personal experience is that pain manifests as either the burning, lactic acid clogging sting in my legs and/or as the failure to catch my breath as my CV system struggles to clear CO2. The sad news is that I haven't yet come to terms with it. It effects me. It pulls me down. It lingers well after the ride to discourage the next outing. My non-cycling life is good and I lack important negatives upon which to fixate. I'm too comfortable.

How do you cope?

-mark