I’ve been in a funk of late. Between a hectic travel schedule, a weird knee injury that caused me to DNF from IMC and a few odd bouts of sickness (and many instances of “almost sickness”), I haven’t trained at all in the past few months. I might have ridden once since August - if that.
This is very strange for me, as normally if I’m in Vancouver I’m on my bike. I’ve been feeling lethargic, and unmotivated. Smells like burnout. Only how does one burn out from NOT training?
The light at the end of the tunnel came in the form of an email from a friend of mine, with a flyer detailing a weekend of racing at the Burnaby Velodrome. Now I’ve never ridden track before, but I’ve been wanting to try it out for ages. Being pretty decent on a fixie I’d imagine that my adaptation won’t be that hard. I just need to learn the rules and etiquette. As it turns out, Friday is noob day with races for first timers only. This couldn’t have come at a better time - for the first time in recent memory I’m totally amped to ride! The icing on the cake is that my schedule has lined up in such a way that I will be in town for three consecutive weekends - and a learn-to-ride clinic will be taking place on those very weekends. I even got the last spot in the first course.
Sounds like this is just the incentive that you needed, at just the right time. You will have a blast there. Don’t forget to report back with your findings, is Simon going too?
I have never rode in a velodrome, but my 13 year old kid is a member of our State’s youth team. Last Saturday I took my kid to practice at the velodrome. It is a 250 m concrete velodrome. The banking looks steep and high from the spectator seats (I guess about 50 yds away). This time because there was no one else at the velodrome I walked very carefully along the rail and stopped at the highest point. There is one good reason why banking at the curves is called “superelevation” by engineers. Looking down towards the black line, standing still, sure gives you another perspective of velodrome racing.
Lethargic, check. Unmotivated, check. Apathy, check. Burnout, check. I hear you brother.
I’ve dug a similar hole this year, so I can offer you my insights. There is no end to the digging, so you need to put a stop to it NOW. Not tomorrow. Procrastination begets procrastination, and apathy will not cure itself.
The way you can start climbing out of the hole is to exercise regularly, like every day. Start from wherever you are and build to a goal of 1 hour of sweating per day. Think of it as mental medicine. Do whatever you have to do to get there: get angry, get determined, kill a kitty, get your ego involved. Do not let anything get in the way of accomplishing this daily goal, including travel. This is the most powerful medicine you will ever have.
since mid may, got the results from the CT scan no ligement damage but appears i sheared off some bone! The weird thing is I can run ok and you know how much I hate running, even play squash, but riding is uncomfortable for anything more than an easy spin. Now waiting to see knee surgeon, looks like surgery.
Yeah, I really gotta get my ass in gear. This should be a good start. I need to run if I want to drop some weight, but this should at least get the ball rolling. I need to find my joy first. Then I’ll be back with a vengance.
Sergio, Vancouver is a 200 metre track so even steeper. I walked around Bromont (another 250) this summer and the corners are steep. The interesting thing with these steep tracks (and Forest City, which is about 140 metres and steeper still) is that you can put kids on them and they’ll have a ball.
I love track racing and hope you will too Khai. It’s just a blast and the atmosphere is completely different than other bike races - much more supportive.
Man, that sucks! Since running doesn’t hurt… perhaps there’s an IM in the doing sooner than you thought! Seriously though, I hope the knee specialist comes up with good news and a workable plan.
When does L fly over to her parents? I thought it was September/October time.
Love the track. it is both easier and more difficult than you’ d think. I may actually only ride at the drome next year, and not do many tris. It’s totally a blast, even though as a true slow-twitcher who’s happy to grind away at 85 rpms and 20-23 mph for 40k it’s waaaaay different than what I’m used to.
