Bear with me on this, I have more and more time to philosophize on my bike these days. A question that sometimes pops up when I am puttering along in Zone Two is ‘why?’. Not why I am in Zone Two, but why I am in Zone Two, training for a big cycling endurance event.
It’s a legitimate question because the vast majority of people who live with enough means to have time to consider these things simply do not ever think that running a 5k or 10k race (let alone a marathon), doing a gravel event in Idaho, a trail run in Hong Kong or Paris-Brest-Paris is a good idea. My sister used to ask me why often when I talked about doing these sorts of things. Right there we are different and rare.
Zeroing in on cyclists, I’d say that you have a reasonable majority of us who also have never ever considered doing an endurance event. I know I never did till it was presented to me as something people did back in 2010. What is an endurance event, though? I guess it depends on who you’re asking – any ride over 20km might be a struggle for a beginner cyclist. And what’s the difference between riding, say, 100km with friends and doing it in a ‘race’? I suppose it’s a mixed bag of reasons: being part of a larger community of like-minded people, allowing the competitive side to come out, bragging rights, the medal. The list probably goes on.
I’ve had a few years of no events at all (since before Covid Times) and I’ve been feeling like something has been missing. Up till 2020 it wasn’t a question of whether I’d be doing something, but what I’d be doing. I think that some of you can relate. It turns out that I need the goal to pump up the motivation to ride more and train harder. I like the process of planning, even if the implementation part hurts.
But I know this is not the case for everyone. I am justifiably petrified of the Tour du Mont Blanc, but this just motivates me to figure out how not to kill myself while doing it, while hopefully finishing within the time limit…or finishing…or not finishing but with dignity! I know there are people who get overwhelmed by the pressure of training and/or the expectations they place on themselves. That is, the very thing that gives Person A extra motivation makes Person B a nervous wreck.
And that’s about as far as my auto-philosophizing has got this week. To be continued…
The Vicious Cycle 
I have a simple target, try to ride 100 miles at least once a year. That is competitive enough for me. (I was always last in races in my younger days.)
That’s a good target. I’ll look for that one on Strava!
We do it because it feels so good afterward. I don’t mean simply the sheer physical and mental relief of “thank God it’s finally over”; I mean that it feels good to have spun through all the gears you have and then some more that you didn’t know you had, over the course of the previous year or whatever. A memory of stopping at a roadside bush of perfectly ripe blackberries, during an otherwise unremarkable training ride, will emerge as unaccountably strong and persistent in the years that follow. Why? Who knows, but it enhances the feeling of being alive and human in a way that you wouldn’t have access to if you had just sat on the couch and watched the game.
That’s for sure. I love my couch, but there’s only so much I get out of it. The ‘why’ is probably quite personal. Maybe I should do a survey someday.