Sunday, November 25, 2007

Trail Conditions

The cold rainy weather is unforgiving when it comes to mistakes on the road at 25mph on tires that have barely a centimeter and a half of contact/grip. This makes the decision of heading out obvious. Along with the rain comes muddy trails. As fun as it would be to tear through the mud on knobby tires, it would cause unnecessary damage to it that is often difficult if not impossible to repair. Another option is quickly thought over and dismissed again due to the rain. Wet shoes make for terrible grip on large platform pedals, making any type of hopping difficult and not very fun.

So with all this in mind, I quickly run out of ideas as to what to do with myself for the duration of my uneventful day. With a bicycle, I lose the ability to think about my life and end up concentrating on when my next sprint will be or what my distance is or the best way to increase my speed. I get lost in attempting to perfect my spin technique. Am I pedaling in a square? Am I putting too much weight on the drops? Should I drop the gearing and spin more? Is my leg bleeding? Should I bomb down the next hill? Should I be concerned with all these pebbles and the integrity of my carbon fiber fork? What about my stem? Did I leave my mini pump in my other jersey pocket?

I live with the dramatics of the road, the streets, the rocky trails in a way that can't translate to my personal life. I carve decent lines, negotiate rocks, roots and sand with the necessary brake regulation. I slow down before I get into something that I can't handle...

If I could figure out a way to apply it to the times when I don't have two wheels beneath me then maybe I wouldn't be so dismissive about it all. I used to fight and fight until things were right. Now I can barely find the strength to say what's on my mind.

There is no more bravery left.

[ =Lucky= ] | 2:16 PM |

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