for the past 10 days, i haven’t ridden a bicycle. even though i’ve never noticed much of a benefit from taking time off between sports seasons (running, soccer), and even though my gut feeling was that time off might hurt more than it could help, i decided i’d give it a shot with this here bike racing thing. after all, i’d been advised by some pretty knowledgeable people that this was the way to go, and they’ve been racing bikes a lot longer than i have, right? right! i decided i was willing to try it as an experiment.
and how did it go?
not good. in fact, it sucked. sucked so bad. so bad.
and i will not do it again.
first off, one of the big reasons i decided to give it a shot was that it seemed like a good opportunity to catch up on regular life; do all of the things i hadn’t been doing while i was riding. i felt like it would be really good for my brain. it turns out though, that my regular life mostly consists of watching internet tv and spending internet money on bicycle parts and bicycle clothes on the internet. boring and not in any way constructive.
however, even though i quickly became a broke internet junkie, at least i was giving my legs and back and such a chance to regroup and feel fresh, right? no! for the first two or three days i had this aching in my legs from top to bottom, and it continued to build up as the hours passed until i was eating advils as often as i was allowed, and doing jumping jacks in the living room to ease the pain. once that phase had come and gone, the enemy that is muscle tightness stepped into the ring. i was stretching twice a day at least, and a little bit at work when i had the time, and i was still losing flexibility. there were a few nights when i’d wake up multiple times because my lower back was tensing up so bad, and i’d need more stretching and more advils to get back to sleep. sitting in an office chair throughout the workday became a real test of willpower.
on top of that, not riding did not diminish my appetite. if anything, it increased it. gaining weight was not one of the goals i set out to achieve, so i resisted the pangs, but it was neither easy nor pleasant.
and lastly, now that i’m back on my bike, i can’t believe how strange and unnatural it feels. i can’t find my sweet spot on my saddle, i don’t feel comfortable on my hoods, and i’m tip-toeing around corners. i think i had taken for granted how instinctive riding a bicycle had come to feel, and now that i’ve lost just a little bit of that edge, i miss it.
so in conclusion, time off is lame. fuck it. fuck that shit to hell. right to hell. seriously.
i’m sure it’s a grand experience for some people, but it was miserable for me. and the really lame part is that the muscle pain and the tightness weren’t new things. in hindsight, i really should have seen them coming, because i always feel like that when i have to be inactive for some reason.
and that’s what i get for ignoring my gut. my mistake. i’ve got over 10 years experience training this body, so nobody knows it better than me. i don’t often forget that, and lapses like this ensure i won’t forget it again for a good long while.
but anyways, now i’m back to riding! hooray! i shaved my legs, too. it’s like i’m a whole person again.
ok, i’m done. sorry if that was boring.
love,
the tiniest sprinter









