SPEED
or more specifically.....Personal Best.
It is always a tough thing to take when there is a change in command or a shift in order. For years I felt that I had a slight edge on the bike over a number of my peers. More than anything this edge was based off of years of experience rather than hours of training. As many of us have stepped into adult lifestyles, which include wives and kids there have been some adjustments. Some riders have adapted with more sophisticated approaches to their sport and there are those of us who have stepped up riding to training, others have sacrificed other sports and activities and concentrated our energies on less broad range of interests (sports that overlap instead of conflict.) There is this one friend of mine, Todd. He has a wife, two kids, a straight job, basically a similar set of variables minus the need to be social and slug down jugs of wine (okay I am starting with the excuses already.) Well, over the years I have compared his times to mine. In the Canaan/Snowshoe 24hour arena our times were similar, I tended to just edge him out by a few minutes on fastest lap and a few minutes on faster average. Then in recent years as his team the Mud Flounders have been boycotting the 24 hour events Todd has put his interests more into Cyclocross. On top of his shift from mountain to cross, he has also become leaner and meaner. He has dropped from his 200+ frame to be a solid 185. He has altered his base weight, his legs are leaner and his body is faster. During the winter months I accepted that he was faster than me in cross, what was a place or two the year prior, became him placing in the top 5 while I was mid pack. I rested confident that cross was my off season and that mountain was my thing. Well, this weekend past Todd finished his sport race several minutes faster than I finished my Clydesdale class. Sure on another day on another course the balance of the scales may fall in my favor. The long and the short of this story is that I will need to train more or else I am going to be left in the dust.
(this same tale of commitment finding speed exists in the same transition between my brother and myself....I was once faster now he holds the crown)
Guess I need to follow suit and start placing more miles as a priority
or
accept that these people are all going to drop me
or more specifically.....Personal Best.
It is always a tough thing to take when there is a change in command or a shift in order. For years I felt that I had a slight edge on the bike over a number of my peers. More than anything this edge was based off of years of experience rather than hours of training. As many of us have stepped into adult lifestyles, which include wives and kids there have been some adjustments. Some riders have adapted with more sophisticated approaches to their sport and there are those of us who have stepped up riding to training, others have sacrificed other sports and activities and concentrated our energies on less broad range of interests (sports that overlap instead of conflict.) There is this one friend of mine, Todd. He has a wife, two kids, a straight job, basically a similar set of variables minus the need to be social and slug down jugs of wine (okay I am starting with the excuses already.) Well, over the years I have compared his times to mine. In the Canaan/Snowshoe 24hour arena our times were similar, I tended to just edge him out by a few minutes on fastest lap and a few minutes on faster average. Then in recent years as his team the Mud Flounders have been boycotting the 24 hour events Todd has put his interests more into Cyclocross. On top of his shift from mountain to cross, he has also become leaner and meaner. He has dropped from his 200+ frame to be a solid 185. He has altered his base weight, his legs are leaner and his body is faster. During the winter months I accepted that he was faster than me in cross, what was a place or two the year prior, became him placing in the top 5 while I was mid pack. I rested confident that cross was my off season and that mountain was my thing. Well, this weekend past Todd finished his sport race several minutes faster than I finished my Clydesdale class. Sure on another day on another course the balance of the scales may fall in my favor. The long and the short of this story is that I will need to train more or else I am going to be left in the dust.
(this same tale of commitment finding speed exists in the same transition between my brother and myself....I was once faster now he holds the crown)
Guess I need to follow suit and start placing more miles as a priority
or
accept that these people are all going to drop me