(Note: I originally wrote this in March. I’m publishing it in April. Unfortunately, the off season has been a bit longer than I’d like it to be, as it has been profoundly stubborn about warming up. I think there is still relevance, even though it’s roughly a month behind the times!)
Days are getting a bit longer. It’s a gradual process. The forecasted temperatures for the near term are mostly above freezing. The Off Season isn’t over, yet, but you can definitely see the end of it from where I’m standing.
Naturally, I’m thinking about riding again.
I envy those that are able to gear up and ride, mostly, year round. I’ve attempted that in the past but ultimately found it lacking for my purposes: it didn’t match up cleanly with the kind of riding I really wanted to be doing. The lack of riding all winter long builds up an enormous amount of anticipation for that first ride.
Part of the reason that winter riding never held a lasting appeal is because the world feels mostly dead and dormant. The air doesn’t carry the same energy and aroma that it does during spring, summer, and autumn. At best, you can hope that someone started a fire in their fireplace and you get whiffs of wood smoke as you work the pedals over and over. It’s a constant battle to not heat up so quickly that you sweat, but not going too slow to stay warm. In short, it’s not the experience I signed up for.
Viewed in this way, the change from winter to spring is fantastically exciting. I walk through my garage in late February and early March and cast longing glances at my bike on the way. It’s good to continually feel such a desire to continue with a sport because it reminds me that there is still much left that I can accomplish.
This seasonal change is a good time to think about why I am about to commit, again, to a three season riding extravaganza. This is a sport that demands quite a bit of space in your life, physically and metaphorically, and so it bears examination – I definitely don’t want to do something simply because I’ve been doing it long enough that it’s ensconced as tradition.
Fitness?
I suspect the superficial angle to take for this would be to remind myself that it keeps me in some kind of shape. The issue is that a lot of things would accomplish that same end without the enormous investment in time and equipment. For instance, a pair of running shoes. That, and there has to be some additional motivating force to get cycling to feel like the activity.
The fitness aspect brushes up dangerously close to the competitive aspect, as well, and I would prefer to abstract all of that away. Eventually, that just wouldn’t be enough to keep me coming back to the bike for more every year.
Also, if fitness was the main driving force behind being on-bike, I wouldn’t experience such an extreme aversion to the wintertime riding options. Since I do, indeed, experience that, it must be something else that drives me.
Something Else!
Each year, the initial warming reminds me of the fundamental reasons to commit to cycling as much as I can. My mind isn’t yet on anything particularly competitive and I’m interested in soaking up as much sun as I can. I need the sunlight every bit as much as the plants around me do, apparently.
Before I start planning to attend any events for the year, this is a wonderful way to reacquaint myself with cycling. The world around me is coming alive again, after the deep freeze of winter. The sense that life is all around you and you are an active participant is deeply satisfying.
The months away from any serious riding allow for the novelty about things I normally take for granted to come back. Simply covering ground under my own power becomes a joy again as I remember how satisfying it feels to be the engine for my bike.
The buildup of anticipation for these first rides is really an excitement about feeling alive again, feeling that you can grow and change.
This is what brings me back to the bike, year after year. Once all of the specifics of competition, gear, traveling, etc.… have been stripped away, I’m left with something that allows me to enjoy and experience life in a way that makes sense to me. This is the fundamental framework that I maintain every spring, the framework that ultimately supports more competitive endeavors.
Gradually Faster 