I suppose it's easy for me to say, "Get into the frame of mind". As one who trained and raced a bit it was important. Focused on heart rate v's cadence v's thresholds was all part of the game. Times, averages, and even KOM's on Strava where all part of it. I told myself how much fun it was, and how much I loved it. But in the end for a relative newby I found myself focusing on the effort rather than the fun. I began to decline in a spiral, no improvements, no more KOM's, averages were dropping and it didn't matter what I tried I just couldn't seem to go forward.
Had I hit my peak? Had I become a failure before I even got going? Had I been training too hard? Or had I simply just pushed myself so hard the only thing that was changing was on the inside, and not for the better? I begun to put far too much pressure on myself as I went along. I had been following all the rules and out for a ride I could even do things right. But when it came to race day, well, umm, enough said.
It's not as though I choked, and I explained to myself race experience was needed, and yes, it was. But I noticed something missing. I noticed that something had estranged itself from me. It was my love, pure and simple. I noticed a decline in the amount I went out and rode. I noticed that training efforts were less and less. I noticed that my beloved Domane sat in the shed gathering more dust than I had ever let it in the past. Even going for the Saturday morning coffee ride was an effort. I did write a blog many moons ago titled Someone Stole My Mojo questioning what the hell was going on.
But then, I went on my first bike trip and that love was replenished! My faith was restored in myself once again. It wasn't that I was failing, just the love was gone. My attitude is completely different now, although I'm not trying to race anymore, or even out all the time on my bike, cycling is no longer a religion. It is still an intrinsic part of my life, I can't 'not' ride. But I can survive with it all being just about my bike and myself out there. It no longer has nothing to do how much faster I go, or how I can improve.
But when it comes to touring there is still a mindset to get into. With that said, it is the complete opposite of competition. On my first trip I made the mistake of taking my 'Stava' mindset with me. I was always one that enjoyed a longer ride and thought that I would have no problem doing one hundred kilometers per day, I'd do it standing on my head. After day one, well let's say I learned the hard way. Ninety-eight kilometers up gravel and hilly roads, trying to keep an average pace and trying to work the bike as hard as I did when training or going on a longer group ride.
Even on day two I tried to relax and just enjoy the ride but to no avail. One hundred and five kilometers along mud sodden and clay panned wet roads slipping my way to eventual nightfall. On day three I started to relax more, not much more, but a slight improvement. It wasn't just the mindset of averages and overall distance that was defeating me, it was the sense of failure, the sense of not getting to where I was going, my intended camp. I had no plan B.
It did take a while to get into this 'not faster" head space. Not having a chilled out approach builds an anxiety, and an anxiety I don't like having to deal with. I spent all my time riding and trying to get where I was going and missed out on the enjoyment of why I was out there in the first place, to see the things I would not normally see.
It's not as though it is a consuming mindset but it is annoying that even on touring you have to deal with it. Recovering and rehabilitating from the Lycra MAMILisation of oneself is an effort in itself...lol. But it is one that I am grateful for accomplishing. Now there's nothing wrong with Lycra, or being a MAMIL, or racing, hats off to you all, but in the end it wasn't for me. All I am trying to state is where I was and where I am now.
So now the mindset is different I focus still, but on something different. I focus on Quality rather than Quantity, Sights seen rather that Distance covered and the the time I spend on my bike, getting started in the mornings and getting to camp is somewhat irrelevant. I always now have a plan B in case I don't make it to where I had planned to get to. I would rather take an extra day or two on a planned trip because I chose to simply go slower or see more stuff than bust a gut getting it finished and missing out on half of what I wanted to get out of it.
Don't get me wrong, I live in the real world where time and money is limited. I know that we all don't have the privileged to pack up and head off and continually travel the world at our leisure. Most of us have a certain amount of time to get a trip done, we have to go back to work, we have families etc. But I would much rather plan a shorter trip and enjoy it than do a longer one returning home exhausted.
Cutting a trip as little as fifteen kilometers per day can make a big difference (eighty-five v's one hundred). Over a two week trip it only leaves you two hundred and ten kilometers shorter, and in the scheme of things is that really that much to loose out on? With me, I take this into account and plan a route that is just a tad shorter, and then some. If I have a good run, so be it and no biggy, I simply get home a little earlier. If I am struggling, or choose to see a little extra, I have a little extra time to stay another day somewhere, or shorten my ride distance.
Yes, I still use my Garmin (and Strava...) but it is more for me and to show my friends where I have been, ok...and brag about the trip I've just done...lol. But I relax and take it slow, this is my goal, this is my new mindset, to me this is the right frame of mind, and I love it.
Cheers guys, and as always, ride safe.
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