the tao of cycling: 21 excuses

Saturday, May 16, 2009

21 excuses

I've been compiling in my head a list of the possible excuses cyclists, runners, and joggers might use to explain their inability to be friendly while encountering other cyclists (i.e., me) out on the road, and I'm finally putting them down on (figurative) paper:

breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breath out, breathe in, breathe out . . .

my mother taught me never to be friendly to strangers.

I'm in training, this is serious, I can't waste energy being social.

I am in a crappy mood and just want to pound out my frustration on the pavement and if I even see a happy person I'll explode.

this waving thing is overrated: what has it ever done for me? forget it.

I look stupid in this helmet and these ridiculous shorts, and I'm embarrassed to be seen: if I don't see them they can't see me.

I am so caught up in the music on my ipod I don't even know there's anyone else out here.

I'm counting to one billion and don't dare get distracted.

if I look down at my cyclometer at the right moment, I won't have to wave at that person, opening myself up to an actual encounter with another human.

if I pretend there's something wrong with my foot (hand/neck/knee/whatever) I won't have to acknowledge that person coming toward me, possibly connecting for just one moment with a fellow human.

this is my time, I am focusing on me, it's not about other people.

I am using every bit of strength I have to pedal: I have nothing left over for a wave.

if I move my hands from the handlebars I will lose control and crash.

I only wave to other professionals like me; everyone else is beneath me.

I look cooler when I pretend I don't see anyone else.

why do these people have to ride bikes? can't they just run, like us genuine athletes?

I'm painfully shy, and waving or nodding my head will throw me well outside my comfort zone.

I'm too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it hurts...... (see complete lyrics here: http://www.metrolyrics.com/im-too-sexy-lyrics-right-said-fred.html )

wow, this gal coming toward me is way too cute, she won't even acknowledge me, I won't even try.

this is my bike lane, what are these other people doing here?

huh? what other cyclist?

and I, being the gracious soul that I am, will even concede that a handful of these excuses are acceptable and valid.

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the Male Ego

The other day I was coming down a canyon in my drop bars (two years ago I would have said, 'what's a drop bar?'), working hard, when I came up on two guys who were also heading downhill but at a more leisurely pace. I passed them, said hello as I did so, and pulled back into the bike lane. a few minutes later they went flying past me, faces looking dead ahead, not a single bit of acknowledgment that I even existed on this planet let alone was involved in and enjoying the same sport they were.
I have to attribute this to the male ego. what else can it be? now I know we all have egos, myself included. and mine even shows its ridiculous little head once in a while, or perhaps more often. but the difference between mine and say, those of certain men on bicycles, is that I KNOW mine exists and I can LAUGH at mine. I know my ego was quite excited to pass those guys, and I could also smile because I knew if the men had really been working like I was, they would have kicked my butt down the hill.
I think I pissed them off.
and I'm sure I will be sharing with you much more of my thoughts about the male ego . . .

a little history

I was married, and I had a mountain bike which I rarely rode. we separated, I moved out, and four months later someone stole my bike. the next spring, 2005, I bought myself a new mountain bike. I rode occasionally, and in april 2006 I rode in my first century, the Cactus Hugger in St. George, Utah. I made it 54 miles on that mountain bike, and it took me about 6 hours. I think that included the rest stops where I prayed that someone would steal my bike again . . .
in june 2006 I started riding my mountain bike five mornings a week, a 45-55 minute loop that was intended to be all about exercise. and what I found was that I loved the quiet, peaceful morning full of bird chatter and barely breaking sunrises. by that fall I was hooked, and began considering the purchase of a road bike. I rode up emigration canyon for the first time that Labor Day of 2006, panting and plowing along on my trusty (heavy) bike, and a month later I was the proud owner of my own road bike: I had become a two-bike girl!
a 17-week-long "power camp" over the winter and a handful of new friends kept bicycling front and center in my life, and when spring of 2007 rolled around I was ready to hit the pavement. I rode my first century the end of april, when I again went to St. George and completed that Cactus Hugger. it took me about 7 hours, but this time I rode the entire 100 miles with about 9300 feet of vertical gain. woo hoo!
I started riding canyons around our area, emigration and millcreek, city creek, big cottonwood, little mountain and big mountain, and once--yes, only once--little cottonwood.
then in september of 2007, I rode from Logan, Utah, to Jackson, Wyoming, in the slightly infamous LOTOJA race. I rode, I did not race. and I completed the thing, crediting my good training buddies, the incredibly perfect weather, my support team, and an amazing convergence of all things positive in the universe.
I put in about 3500 miles last season, and as of today, july 19, 2008, I have about 1700 in, adding to it every day.
I have again signed on to ride the LOTOJA race, and my goal is to have just somewhere near as great a ride as I did last year. oh, and to have someone fun to talk with along the way as I got incredibly bored last year . . . star valley is still a nightmare scene in my biking memories . . .
and here is a picture of the machine that has helped me reclaim my life.