Off The Back

In cycling "off the back" means you have been left behind or "dropped".  It happens to everyone at one point or another.  The older you get the more of a chance you have of it happening to you.  It can be good for you, it will make you work harder (sometimes).

A Different Kind of Dropped

Lately people I really enjoy riding with have stopped or drastically reduced their riding.  Mostly due to health issues; and not the kind that you just take an aspirin for.  Some due to the dreaded burnout.  I realize that as I get older this will become more commonplace.  Active people will tend to get hurt every now and then.  But recently it seems to be lumped together.  I feel bad for them but it makes me thankful I'm still out here.  I never take this life for granted.

I feel like there is a sweet spot when it comes to any active hobby.  That place where you are working but you still wake up the next day wanting to do it again.  Everybody has their own level.  I'm not talking about injuries here.  As long as you have the desire to come back, and can come back, if you haven't crossed that "over doing it" line, you'll be okay.

I speak from experience here.  THE CRASH certainly changed my life.  I ride by that spot on the multi use at Overstreet and think "how can that little clay hill have done so much damage".  My hip and knee still hurt.  Of course they may not hurt so bad if I didn't work them so hard at the gym two nights a week.  The pain has become the new normal.  I get paranoid if my leg doesn't hurt.  Psycho, I know.

Peaks of Training

Training Peaks, I love it.  It tells me what type of training I'm supposed to do every day.  I don't have to decide how I feel, I just look at my phone.  The best part is when I've done the prescribed workout it will light up green!  Yellow if I've done too much, and red if I did too little.  Then there's the graphs and data to geek out over!  I downloaded the OMTP to it and even though I've followed this plan for years it seems brand new on TP.

Oh No

It's taken me a few days to write this and I didn't mean for it to be prophetic.  Last night my training partner had a crash on his MTB.  An ambulance was called and he'll be out for a few months (at least).  It was a spot we've ridden hundreds of times, he wasnt' doing anything risky, just clipped a tree with his bars and took a header.  Unfortunately he landed on a large collection of roots.

This of course scares the piss out of me.  I know he'll be back, he's a tough old dude, but just how many rehabs do we have in us?  This cycling thing seems to be more dangerous than moto.  Is it just because we're getting older?  I don't want to take up golf (even though I do enjoy it) yet.  And I'd hate to give this sport up, but it sure has me thinking.

So now he has to deal with the pain and inconvenience of a major injury.  Having to have others do for you.  The scary look into a future where you can't do whatever you want, go wherever you want.  Having to rely on others for simple things.  Then there's the loooong trip back to fitness with all the physical and mental pain that will entail.

In the end it's just another one of life's hard lessons.  We like to think we have control over what happens but that's just a mirage to help us get through the days.  We really just need to be prepared to accept and play with the cards we're dealt.  As they say it's not about what happens it's how you react to it.