the tao of cycling: slipstream

Monday, March 19, 2012

slipstream

ah. it just sounds good.
the word is smooth, fast, it pulls you along with it.
slipstream.

I came across this word yesterday in a book describing a swimming scene, "he moved into her slipstream, following her in the narrow lane," and I immediately felt the protective cushion of air, the lightening of the workload that I feel when I've moved into the slipstream of a cyclist in front of me.
it's like a tailwind: a magical push or pull that makes life dramatically better.

that might sound over the top, but the impact of these things---a cyclist in front of me, a tailwind behind---is powerful. it's said that drafting another cyclist cuts your workload by 20 percent or so, and a good tailwind could certainly do the same. 20 percent is significant.
but of possibly even greater importance, the slipstream and the tailwind give you a partner out there.
someone on your side.
someone (or thing) helping you out, sharing the work, partnering up with you.

this is the beautiful thing about partnership: you get to be each other's slipstreams. one buoys the other up, one clears the path for the other, one gives a push or a pull. the sense of shared purpose, task, duty, or even fun enhances the experience for both.
the one in the lead can feel proud, generous, strong, while the one behind is able to feel gratitude, admiration of the other, appreciation, perhaps relief.

life is filled with opportunities to provide slipstreams for others.
last night I was that for my daughter through listening, providing options, offering assistance.
often you can create a slipstream simply by smiling, by holding a door open, by accepting someone into your awareness.
you can be a tailwind by providing tools and backing away. by teaching and then letting go. by holding on until its time to give one last push, then release your grip.

slipstreams and tailwinds.
they are beautiful things, and today, I am going to remind myself to be one or the other, all day long. it might be interesting to see what would happen if we all did.

namaste.

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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.