GFNY Double-Double — And Now the Tough Part
Can I Have Your Attention Please…
Because you’re talking about what, you’re talking about, bitching about that time trial you blew, that thing at work that happened, talking about that group ride on Sunday, talking about that pro-race that’s going on? Let’s talk about something important!
PUT THAT COFFEE DOWN!
Coffee is for GFNY Double finishers only. OH — have I got your attention now? Your name is Geiser? You call yourself a bike racer you son-of-a-bitch?
Breathe. Anyway, we’ve been talking about travel arrangements, hotels, rental cars, AirBNB’s, who’s in/who’s out, how to pack a bike, how to pack a bag, where to rent a bike. It’s all good! All good — it all needs to happen.
But as the old saying goes…”don’t do the crimes, if you can’t do the climbs” — the old saying doesn’t really go like that, but we can pretend. Hey how about this. Instead of Baretta that said it, how about we pretend that Bar-Eddy said it. But what I am really on about is training. Bringing it up now, because I was spending a little commuter time digitally lurking in other people’s lives, when this happened:
With GFNY Portugal less than 60 days away, that meant three things.
- GFNY Portugal is less than 60 days away on September 9.
- GFNY Deutschland is less than 60 days minus 7 on September 2.
- It is definitely time to pull my head out of my ass and get training.
Recovery and Training
With recovery still looming, and a blown time trial freshly in my rear view mirror it was time to take stock. In discussing with Vito, understanding where I am, and accepting that this was the situation was something that would have to happen first. It won’t all come back at once. And as we have seen in the past, it won’t be happenstance or a miracle when it does. It will require discipline, it will require some attention to detail, and it will require patience. “Believe in yourself, believe in your training” is an often used expression around De Rosa | Gavia Cycling. Expressed visually as the hashtag #ridingintoform. A reminder that no matter where you are, in the journey that day, no matter what you do, you are always riding into form. You may not be in the form you want, but you are working to get there. You are never perfect. You always want to improve. You are always riding into form. #ridingintoform — seen often as encouragement for someone who has had a bad day (who hasn’t), and likewise for someone who is really showing improvement — because there is always that chance. So now it is upon me to live those words and be riding into form.
As an aside to this — accepting where I am in the process, while part of the process, is not the end of the process. With every pound lifted, every kilometer pedaled, and every minute that I don’t take the two GFNY European Double (double-double) races ahead for granted, I am working to change the situation in my favor. If you know me, you know that I will be happy to be in both races. If you know me, you also know that, being there, while an epic adventure, will not be enough. While DFL is better than DNS, and DNF, it’s still not where I want to be, and I am in control of that. There is a little bit of AYFKM to all of it! (you’re welcome Jeff).
But OH — The Distractions
With all the patter that goes on around doing something like this, there is the inevitable flurry of talk about the gear. What do I need, what can I improve, what should I buy. There was talk of combining my mighty Super Record 53 with a 12 speed Campagnolo Motion and a 32. Or maybe switch to a compact 50/34. “Hey you want to enjoy it right? And if you are suffering on those climbs, you won’t enjoy it!”
WOW! BASTA!
The great Eddy Merckx is purported to have said “Don’t buy upgrades. Ride up grades!” Yes, that’s it. The start of something great perhaps in understanding that the best way to get ready to climb hills, is to climb some fuxxing hills. Why not? So began the quest, to depart from the status quo of gear-envy, and the oft-ridden and never mastered undulations of 9W, and get up to Harriman State Park and start training in earnest. A veritable Gilligans Island of cycling, no phones, no lights, ok some motor cars, it’s an ideal place to concentrate and stay clipped in until the urge to whiz is so bad that you have no choice, but to unclip and take care of business at the Ranger station.
There were two ways to do this. With friends/teammates and alone. Over a few weekends started to get in a groove training with my friend Doug (readying himself for the Lake Placid half iron-man), and of course with #Toto (Chris Torella). Then there were one or two (so far) precious training sessions alone.
Getting off the trainer as much as possible, out into the air, and actually climbing some dang hills is great for the soul. For as much as it hurts the legs, it feeds the heart and the soul and makes you remember why you are proud to ride a bike when you are finished. For as much as I love the flat out flat challenge of a headwind in a time trial, climbing is one of the things that makes cycling truly special. Cyclist against self and cyclist against nature all in one. The triple threat of course, in the race, all three. Cyclist against self, cyclist against nature, and cyclist against cyclist. What could be better. It began to occur to me that I may need to stretch beyond the usual means, and take a day off here or there, start at a ridiculously early hour (Monday was the day off, tomorrow is the ridiculously early hour), and get the climb on. Extend the number of KM and the number of meters climbed week over week until I am in 161KM/2,500M form by the end of August.
Logistics, Adventure, and the Reason You Make the Trip
The journey can truly be its own reward. But the physics of getting around the course in each case will remind us that we made the trip for a reason. Tomorrow it will be out to Harriman — stupid early. Try to finish and and new numbers to the sheet before my work comrades on the West Coast are out of bed. Or at the very least, before their toast is buttered and their coffee poured.
For a guy who travels a lot, I have had to find away to figure out how to be fit on the road. I can no longer use it as an excuse to not be disciplined. To not remember that I am going on an epic adventure of my own making to these wonderful places in Germany and Portugal (in less than less than 60 days). Every opportunity must be taken, and the quest for perfection has to go out the window. Hotel gym bikes become the opportunity to keep the legs moving. And there will be no excuse for not finding my way to the weight room twice a week.
While the journey is truly its own reward, so is being prepared for the journey. Prepared or the racing. Doing your best. I have surprised myself in some pretty amazing places. Now it’s time to surprise myself with discipline and commitment so that I can pay the journey back.
