the tao of cycling: what love is all about

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

what love is all about

I love my bike.

I'm certain I make this clear to all.

but the other day I didn't much care for it, in fact, wanted to hand it off to someone else, perhaps permanently. not exactly a love-hate relationship, but a love-exasperation relationship. at the moment I'm contemplating hauling it into my house and dealing with what needs to be dealt with. I donwanna.

see, what I desire is a bike that will take care of itself: is self-cleaning, self-correcting, and flat-proof. when it's dirty, greasy, muddy, and in need of a new tube and a new tire, I want it to just go fix itself.
which reminds me of what I said to a former partner when he was a mess: go fix yourself.

the difference is this: although I desire my bike to take care of itself, I understand that it cannot. I will clean it, I will wipe the mud off, I will take the old tire off and dispose of it and put a new tube and tire on. I will dry my bike, I will pump the new tire up, and before I ride it again I will lube the chain.
a bike is inanimate--obviously--and incapable of fixing itself.

the partner I guided, I sat with, I shared with, I directed and advised and empathized and through it all, loved. but there came a point where I couldn't clean, repair, and fix him all by myself. animate creatures have to participate; they can't just rest on a rack and wait to be cared for.

ruby is resting right now, awaiting my ministrations. I will eventually go get her, bring her inside where it's more comfortable, and start to work on her. (yes, I know she's really an "it.") I donwanna. but just like in relationship, my choice is to participate, or to be left without a partner.

the other day I was stranded in a snowstorm, wet and chattery, soggy and disheartened, when ruby's tire flatted and the new tube I installed wouldn't play nicely with my CO2 cartridge. nine miles from home, I was ready to hand ruby off to anyone who would take her and fix her and bring her back all better.

but we are true partners, and it's my turn to show what I'm made of.

right now, that's going to be latex (as in gloves), cotton (towels and rags), elbow grease, degreaser, and a thick portion of determination.

I donwanna, but I hafta.

because that's what love is all about.

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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.