Evolution of an Everyday Athlete
The self is not something ready-made, but something in continuous formation through choice of action.
~ John Dewey (you know, the early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology)
When I first started riding I simply rode. It felt like I rode a lot but in retrospect I realize that it really wasn’t that much. However, it felt like it because I was new to the world of biking and a few miles was a big deal. A few miles of mountain bike trail were an even bigger deal. I remember the first time I rode all the way around Lake Wingra without stopping and even though I realize now that 10k isn’t far back then it was a big deal. I remember my first mountain bike race (in Spring Green, WI) and I remember stopping at the top of the “big” hill to catch my breath. Back then even the idea of entering a race was a huge deal.
I spent a lot of years just riding and racing not that far or that fast but just doing it without thinking about it too much. There were successes. I’ll never forget a really cold, wet race in April in Black River Falls where against all odds I completed the race. I opted not to bail at the short race cut off and for the last 6 miles the sweep ATV rider was behind me and even asked me if I’d like a ride to the finish. I didn’t and I made it but as soon as I arrived everyone (and I actually mean everyone except Dave) left. I also will remember winning my first mountain bike race in 1992. It was snowy and cold and I didn’t really have the right clothes for the day. Truthfully I think I won because my toes were so cold that I was going as hard as I could to get back to warm them up.
Eventually I lost my desire to mountain bike race. It seemed to take up too much time, the thrill had warn off and if I was truly honest with myself I was probably tired of not being very good at it. Funny thing was that as soon as I stopped racing I started riding more. I had finally bought a road bike and that added new opportunities for fun. I took a weird turn and decided to run a marathon which as a hardcore non-runner seemed somewhat inconceivable. Of course, it was conceivable and doable. Then I started doing fast group road rides. In a weird twist I became faster than I was when racing.
Of course all of that lead me back to racing and the discovery of a little thing called training. I never really understood training. I never participated in any sports as a child or teen so I never was introduced to the concept of training. If we talked about it in physical education class I wasn’t paying attention (which was the norm for me). Sure at that point I’d done tons of racing but I’d never trained for it. I maybe rode more or less and with slower or faster friends but if someone had asked me what to do for training I would have said “ride your bike.”
However, I was suddenly overcome with a desire to be “faster” so I bought a training book. All it took was one chapter for me to realize I would never actually read it and use it. However I live in the age of the internet so I got an online coach. I became very motivated by the fact that I was spending money each month so I better do what he said. I got excited to race mountain bikes again. Then I went to a few races and quickly realized that I didn’t actually want to race mountain bikes again. I decided to throw myself into road racing. That was also a short lived experience as try as I might I never really took to road racing. It was one of those things I always felt like I was doing “because it would be good for me” and not because I was excited about it.
And then I decided to give cyclocross a try. I’d watched a race before but always felt I was much too uncoordinated and much too unwilling to suffer for such a sport. Little did I know that the wackiness of the sport would eventually overcome those concerns. I completely threw myself into the sport and in an unexpected turn of events was the Cat 4 Women’s State Champion in my first year of racing thus showing me that training does actually work.
From there I was quite hooked and upgraded to Cat 2 in a short time, overcame knee surgery and continued down this exciting new road called training. It was motivating to have a plan for the first time and do things intended to make me a faster and stronger cyclist. For the first time ever I actually did races where I employed tactics beyond just go hard as long as possible. The results were neither great nor horrible with some successes, some failures and lots in the middle. None of that really mattered though because it was fun. Racing was fun again and training was this new exciting thing.
However, although training paid off and I was “faster” the newness of that wore off. I missed spontaneity and not having a plan laid out. I felt bad for spending money when I wasn’t that committed to the cause of being faster. So I gave up the coach and gave up on training. Luckily cyclocross remained fun even without the successes brought by good training.
But then along came skiing . . . . oh sure, I’d skied a little for a few years but not much and with no technique at all. However, I realized that I wanted to ski the Birkie before I died and I wasn’t getting any younger and my skiing wasn’t getting any better. That little idea led me down a whole new path and that path needed rollerskis, technique lessons and a whole new world. It was new, it was cool and there was plenty of fun to be had. I skied the Birkie – skate and classic (thus covering all my bases). I took things differently for skiing. Training was less structured, more focused on technique and occasionally fraught with freak outs that I needed to ski X many kilometers today or all would be lost.
In all of this I realized that I absolutely love to do it all – mountain biking, road biking, skiing. I sometimes miss snowboarding and dream of buying a kayak. One of these days I'm goign to finish learning to swim. Sometimes I even like to go for a run. Who knows I may eventually get around to climbing the Grand Teton (something that was derailed by snow the year I planned to do it).
It’s been an evolution – from having no idea what it meant to be an athlete, to a singular obsession with being an athlete, to a realization that not being great at any one sport leaves more time to enjoy them all. I also realize that I may want to try being great at something again and that I have what it takes to chase that dream too.
There’s no right way to pursue your passions. For many people racing is what makes them happy or just being the fastest person on the group rides. For me it’s knowing could probably do whatever strikes my fancy on a given day – running a 5k, railing some singletrack, riding some southwestern Wisconsin hills, gliding my way down a snowy trail or leaping off a perfectly good bike to run over some barriers. I’m not the best at any of those things but does that really matter?
I guess what I'm saying is just get out there and enjoy life and don't be afraid to change direction from time to time.
~ John Dewey (you know, the early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology)
When I first started riding I simply rode. It felt like I rode a lot but in retrospect I realize that it really wasn’t that much. However, it felt like it because I was new to the world of biking and a few miles was a big deal. A few miles of mountain bike trail were an even bigger deal. I remember the first time I rode all the way around Lake Wingra without stopping and even though I realize now that 10k isn’t far back then it was a big deal. I remember my first mountain bike race (in Spring Green, WI) and I remember stopping at the top of the “big” hill to catch my breath. Back then even the idea of entering a race was a huge deal.
I spent a lot of years just riding and racing not that far or that fast but just doing it without thinking about it too much. There were successes. I’ll never forget a really cold, wet race in April in Black River Falls where against all odds I completed the race. I opted not to bail at the short race cut off and for the last 6 miles the sweep ATV rider was behind me and even asked me if I’d like a ride to the finish. I didn’t and I made it but as soon as I arrived everyone (and I actually mean everyone except Dave) left. I also will remember winning my first mountain bike race in 1992. It was snowy and cold and I didn’t really have the right clothes for the day. Truthfully I think I won because my toes were so cold that I was going as hard as I could to get back to warm them up.
Eventually I lost my desire to mountain bike race. It seemed to take up too much time, the thrill had warn off and if I was truly honest with myself I was probably tired of not being very good at it. Funny thing was that as soon as I stopped racing I started riding more. I had finally bought a road bike and that added new opportunities for fun. I took a weird turn and decided to run a marathon which as a hardcore non-runner seemed somewhat inconceivable. Of course, it was conceivable and doable. Then I started doing fast group road rides. In a weird twist I became faster than I was when racing.
Of course all of that lead me back to racing and the discovery of a little thing called training. I never really understood training. I never participated in any sports as a child or teen so I never was introduced to the concept of training. If we talked about it in physical education class I wasn’t paying attention (which was the norm for me). Sure at that point I’d done tons of racing but I’d never trained for it. I maybe rode more or less and with slower or faster friends but if someone had asked me what to do for training I would have said “ride your bike.”
However, I was suddenly overcome with a desire to be “faster” so I bought a training book. All it took was one chapter for me to realize I would never actually read it and use it. However I live in the age of the internet so I got an online coach. I became very motivated by the fact that I was spending money each month so I better do what he said. I got excited to race mountain bikes again. Then I went to a few races and quickly realized that I didn’t actually want to race mountain bikes again. I decided to throw myself into road racing. That was also a short lived experience as try as I might I never really took to road racing. It was one of those things I always felt like I was doing “because it would be good for me” and not because I was excited about it.
And then I decided to give cyclocross a try. I’d watched a race before but always felt I was much too uncoordinated and much too unwilling to suffer for such a sport. Little did I know that the wackiness of the sport would eventually overcome those concerns. I completely threw myself into the sport and in an unexpected turn of events was the Cat 4 Women’s State Champion in my first year of racing thus showing me that training does actually work.
From there I was quite hooked and upgraded to Cat 2 in a short time, overcame knee surgery and continued down this exciting new road called training. It was motivating to have a plan for the first time and do things intended to make me a faster and stronger cyclist. For the first time ever I actually did races where I employed tactics beyond just go hard as long as possible. The results were neither great nor horrible with some successes, some failures and lots in the middle. None of that really mattered though because it was fun. Racing was fun again and training was this new exciting thing.
However, although training paid off and I was “faster” the newness of that wore off. I missed spontaneity and not having a plan laid out. I felt bad for spending money when I wasn’t that committed to the cause of being faster. So I gave up the coach and gave up on training. Luckily cyclocross remained fun even without the successes brought by good training.
But then along came skiing . . . . oh sure, I’d skied a little for a few years but not much and with no technique at all. However, I realized that I wanted to ski the Birkie before I died and I wasn’t getting any younger and my skiing wasn’t getting any better. That little idea led me down a whole new path and that path needed rollerskis, technique lessons and a whole new world. It was new, it was cool and there was plenty of fun to be had. I skied the Birkie – skate and classic (thus covering all my bases). I took things differently for skiing. Training was less structured, more focused on technique and occasionally fraught with freak outs that I needed to ski X many kilometers today or all would be lost.
In all of this I realized that I absolutely love to do it all – mountain biking, road biking, skiing. I sometimes miss snowboarding and dream of buying a kayak. One of these days I'm goign to finish learning to swim. Sometimes I even like to go for a run. Who knows I may eventually get around to climbing the Grand Teton (something that was derailed by snow the year I planned to do it).
It’s been an evolution – from having no idea what it meant to be an athlete, to a singular obsession with being an athlete, to a realization that not being great at any one sport leaves more time to enjoy them all. I also realize that I may want to try being great at something again and that I have what it takes to chase that dream too.
There’s no right way to pursue your passions. For many people racing is what makes them happy or just being the fastest person on the group rides. For me it’s knowing could probably do whatever strikes my fancy on a given day – running a 5k, railing some singletrack, riding some southwestern Wisconsin hills, gliding my way down a snowy trail or leaping off a perfectly good bike to run over some barriers. I’m not the best at any of those things but does that really matter?
I guess what I'm saying is just get out there and enjoy life and don't be afraid to change direction from time to time.
posted by MadCross at 10:16 PM
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