New blog

As a new cycling season dawns afresh in a few months, and with a new baby to boot, I thought I'd start a new cycling blog.

First of all, let me talk a bit about last year. Last season, I had very high ambitions. Indeed, I wanted to race again, successfully, as a Cat. 3, doing the minimum of 10 races.

My plan failed. Because of unforeseen circumstances, a lack of funds, and a lack of desire, I actually raced just a scant few times. Only one of these races was even remotely successful. Sure, I got super fit again, my brother and I hammered out a 4:50 century, and I actually hung in there on some of the brutal group rides around BOCOMO. But my heart wasn't in the racing part.

But . . . I've thought the last few months about what cycling means to me. Aside from my family and career, it is the most important thing in my life. No other sport even comes close in comparing to the drama, color, tactics, and exposure to the elements and natural environment as cycling/bike racing.

Growing up and racing as a junior in Kirksville, MO I did a tremendous volume of training on a road called "Route O" near Novinger, Missouri. This road, along with the country lanes it hooks onto--Route D and Hwy 149(which make a great loop)I believe are some of the most bucolic places in the Midwest. Sometimes, when I'd do an interval workout on these country blacktops, I'd never even SEE a car.

The spirit of cycling, and why I ride a bike, is elementally attached to my experiences on Route O. Hence, the title of this blog. Bicycling isn't so much about racing anymore, as it is about freedom, about the fitness that comes with being able to ride on the flats at 28 miles an hour in the Chariton River Valley. It is about keeping the dream of racing alive, but it is also just about dreaming. Losing oneself in a synergy with the bicycle. The love of exercise on a bicycle (as Eddie B. puts it). Isn't that, in the end, why all cyclists--the racers and non-racers alike, ride a bicycle?

I've also done quite a bit of thinking about what it means to be an athlete. Again, competition is wonderful, and I will compete again. But the process of becoming an athlete, the struggle to develop not only strong physical but also mental fitness is perhaps the most rewarding road of all. I strongly recommend reading The Way of the Peaceful Warrior for more about this struggle. Cycling, indeed all athletic endeavors, indeed life itself, should be engaged with in a meditative fashion. Therein lies real success. Much more about this to come.