Old Man Winter

Here we are, just over a month into the winter and I’ve got my snowboard on loan to a friend for the rest of the winter. He offered up his Volkl’s in return for my trip to Durango in three weeks, but man, all I can think about is riding bikes. As the Hardman said, ‘winter sounds good in November, but we’re all ready for the trails to open in February’. True ‘dat.

I seem to have a stronger than usual pull towards two wheels this early in the year, and maybe it’s because I don’t see a whole lot of 50+ racers on the MTB circuit out here. The 19-39 Cat 1 group has 40 racers, the 40-49 group has around 20, and the 50+ goes maybe 10 deep. There isn’t even a 60+ cat.

The thing that is eating at me is the fact that I’m riding better/faster/stronger now than I ever have, and what I am afraid of is reaching that breaking point, where I start to lose speed and skill. It’s gonna’ hit me like a ton of bricks, much more so than any typical mid-life crisis that involves mistresses or red Corvette’s. This will be my mid-life crisis – the day I can’t go as fast as I did the day before. I don’t even think I’ll go down swinging, rather, I’ll probably crumble emotionally like a ton of bricks.

I don’t podium more than once or twice over an entire season, and I sure as hell don’t make any sort of paycheck riding a bike, so my contemplative thoughts don’t even register on the radar as to what a top level athlete must go through when they no longer can compete in the Olympics, or the NFL. That must be a devastating blow. That must be one significant reason why so many athletes make comeback attempts well past their peak.

Getting back to me, because that’s what this blog is about, I’m on a good roll so far this winter with running mileage under my belt, night rides in the cold, multiple way-too-long early season marathon races completed and scheduled, and training with ambitious teammates will surely will prevent any sort of slowdown from happening. Surely, Shirley. Besides, I still have safety valves in place should I begin to slow down a notch. I can always start riding a bike with gears – that’ll buy me at least a couple of years. Full suspension will add another year too. Time to turn off my brain, and go ride.