No cuddling, just a shower and an amble to the desk as I am filled with the post velo glow of happiness. This whole week is suffused with happy glow. It started on Saturday and Sunday with the two 60 mile rides at an easy pace. The wonderment is enhanced with a pondering of how December, the month with infrequent bicycling, could have taken place.
Some random bike bits,
- Karie Mawer started her bicycling adventure to lose weight on the worst day of the year ride, a benefit for the Community Cycling Center. CCC is home to Bikes for Kids and Create a Commuter programs.
- Eating enough while you ride is much more difficult than it seems.
- I seem to be able to ride more on less food than I used to.
- Getting stronger does more for average pace than maximum pace.
- Familiarity breeds contentment. Headwinds are becoming such a normal feature of rides I miss them when they aren’t there. No more grumbling and cratering when I’m riding into the breeze.
- Commuting is a great way to bike.
Karie’s experience echos mine. We both started when the weather was “bad.” There is much to recommend starting bicycling in the fall or mid-winter. Initial enthusiasm can get one through gloomy days. The experience of riding gets more and more pleasant during your first months of riding, making for a nice reward structure. And there is the issue of commitment.
I hope I’m remembering this correctly. In My Voice Will Go With You there is a story of Milton Erikson interviewing a woman who wished to become a client. He told her that during the next week, before returning to see him again, she needed to climb a local hill. If she didn’t climb the hill she wasn’t to return to his office. The hill was not a high one, the pathways on it were not steep. It was within the ability of the potential patient to climb the hill. Why make such an activity a pre-condition to entering into psychothearpy? As I recall, Erikson wanted to make sure the woman would follow directives given during treatment. If she would not climb the hill, then she would not participate in her treatment. In the cycling to lose weight or become part of daily life or take up commuting if one isn’t willing to climb the hill of (at least perceived) inclement weather one needs to ask how committed one is to frequent cycling.
For those with piqued interest, Amazon hosts the introduction to My Voice Will Go With You.
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