procrit

Hello, I'm Burnout, I'm calling to let you know that I will be nagging you until take a break from racing and stop obsessive compulsively training yourself into the ground. I will be making this call every every day starting in July and generally stop the calls around October / November, depending on how long it takes for me to get through to you. KAPEESSHH?

FLvector

Dang, and I though we had the OP convinced that if he didn't race, didn't do a century every weekend and didn't drop every paceline encountered that he was a total failure.

Enjoy your rides and don't worry about what other's think. You don't have to prove anything to anyone but yourself.

doglhunt

I ride to look at the freakin' birds.Hammer when I feel like it;cruise when I don't.Not really in it for the competition.

khatfull

One of the local racing clubs has a "beginners racing program" that I do plan to do in the spring...if anything just for the experience and the fun of doing it. If I had the time I would ride a century every weekend...I do like the distance and the groups I've ridden distance with. Dropping every paceline...not even close

Thanks...I think those two lines sum up my epiphany...

patentcad

There's always the makeup sex.

patentcad

Besides, you don't ride your bike for all the idiots here.

Me neither.

To quote Lance, F'em.

TMonk

1) You think about BF too much.

2) Does this mean that you don't like to hammer anymore?

3) Is it possible for you to push yourself without comparing yourself to others?


Remember that "building huge guads", "droping the hammer" and "dialing it up to 400w" aren't really that reasons why anyone actually rides there bike, they're just things that happen along the way. I don't think that you need to change anything other than your mentality.

Avalanche325

You are comparing your on road performance to the claimed performance on a forum?

Half the people here could have won the TdF, they just didn't feel like taking the three weeks to do it.

celticfrost

Quitter.

patentcad

Embrace the disappointment, the humiliation, the utter despair.

Cycling Zen lies therein.

But if that doesn't work, quit this stupid sport.

dasgib

Man, one of the great things about riding is the feeling of improvement. Riding faster, riding faster with less effort, riding as fast or faster than those who used to be faster than you. All of this is relative, of course and doesn't require you to be as fast as the pro's. But it does require you to push yourself, and it is a feeling that is worth training for. If you just putter around you are going to miss one of the best aspects of the sport.

This is a serious love in, by the way.

TMonk

+1

Inferiority and weakness have always been great motivators.

If you set your sights to the stars, then you should never lose your motivation.





If that is too difficult of an existence, then you could always take pcad's advice or stop pushing yourself.

Everyone's got a limited budget.

khatfull

1) Yep...therein lies a lot of the problem.
2) No, it means that hammering would be done for reasons other than BF tells me I should.
3) That's something I need to learn...in cycling and other aspects of life.

I'll suggest that if you read enough BF you come away with the thought that those things are why a some folks ride...goes back to your point #1.

khatfull

Classic.

khatfull

I wasn't trying to suggest I'd be puttering around, rather, that the motivation for improvement won't have anything to do with BF anymore. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I do want to improve and will work to do so but I don't want to lose sight of the more Zen reasons we do this...and to pause sometimes and enjoy a ride just to enjoy a ride and not go out every time trying to beat the last personal best time on any route.

That ride Monday night when I forced myself to go slow for recovery was just different in a very good way than most any other time I've gone out to ride. It felt good for a totally different reason, and I liked it a lot. I don't want to lose sight of that feeling anymore than I want to lose sight of the great feeling one has after a all-out hard effort.

I think that much of BF (the road forum anyway) doesn't appreciate the former.

Make sense?

Cycho

I keep reading these epiphanic posts where the OP feels the need to explain his/her motivations for riding a bicycle. I mean, let's get real: most of us (me included) are fat, middle-aged, working schlubs with family responsibility, with no discernible athletic ability other than to mount a device with two wheels and push the pedals on it. Did some of you really think you would be riding for Garmin or CSC after a year of "weekend warrior" rides? Also, what's the obsession with speed? Unless you're racing, running from bears or find yourself in the wrong part of town, what's the point? Relax. Take in the scenery. Enjoy another macchiato. When the phone rings, it won't be a team sponsor asking you to get your stuff, you've made the team. It'll be your wife asking about your whereabouts because you need to come home and watch the kids.

TMonk

It sounds to me like you are on the right track .



I think that all of the concepts surrounding "burnout" are as much mental as they are physical. If you never have fun when you are hammering then eventually hammering while lose its appeal. Group rides and training races are a great way to have fun while you are working out hard. So is racing.


Having a training mentality sucks alot of the fun out of riding, although there is still great gratification to be had from overcoming a tough interval session that is in no way fun (it's called endorphins).

Personally, I know that doing 1-5 min intervals hurts ALOT, and is no fun. Yet I persist....
Im lucky to live in a place that has regular group rides and training criteriums. I do 1-5 min intervals during these rides spontaneously and sometimes feel no pain becasue I am having that much fun.



And I think that alot of people here do appreciate the "former" as you put it, it's just that posting about the gushy "sunshine and rainbows" type of stuff isn't exactly protocol forum material.... Those are the kinds of personal experiences in life that are hard to communicate, and they're also a red flag for you to get flamed.

TMonk

Hammer time is fun and it feels good after you break through the pain.

This is even true for fat, middle aged people.



Granted I am a 22yo racing college student so I understand that i'm coming from a different perspective, but one day I plan to be fatter then I am now with a family and a job that come in as #1 ahead of my riding.

I also still plan on hammering, even if I only get let out of my cage for a few hours a week.

Why? Cause hammer = good.

DScott

Who you calling middle-aged?

Cycho

How does this help me?

TMonk

my bad sometimes I can't help myself.

khatfull

Yeah, but you own a Motobecane so...

(sorry, couldn't resist)

I used to be fat before I lost 100 pounds...thanks in large part to the bike. Hence my love for it. No, I didn't think I'd be riding with any sort of team...nor a club but I am now. Speed is fun...I wish we had longer descents around here I could stay at 40mph on. And finally, yes, taking in the scenery is part of the epiphany.

Little Darwin

Every once in a while, I like to post into a thread a message that expresses that road cycling is not just for racers or racer wannabes, it is about riding a bicycle on the road... thus the source of my current signature. People here will occasionally try to define what a cyclist is as more than what it should be.

Congrats on coming to a peaceful place in your cycling.

I hope when you push hard that you get the joy of speed for its own sake, and that when you cycle along slowly you will find joy in the sights and sounds that are around you.

Cycho

That's a softball. I'd be disappointed if you didn't hit it out of the park! I have a Moto, you're ten years older than me. I guess we're even. (Zing!)

That's awesome! Congrats.

TMonk

ftw