While we all recall the old school ground ditty of "Sticks and Stones may break my bone, but words will never hurt me"....we know now that the saying isn't really true. Words do matter because of how we process the emotional and intellectual impacts on our thought processes. If you have ever been embarrassed by someone making a joke at your expense, you know how word choices can really impact you! However, words aren't the only factor as we also have sayings about people who claim that they will do some arduous/amazing future event such as when we describe their assertion as "Talk is cheap" - this is particularly true when you are discussing a major challenge a year away when the idea of achieving something is very appealing and satisfying to your ego although the work to get there might be difficult or unappealing. In this latter case, you have to decide to internalize your goals, and find the internal strength to pursue it (and decide if it is really something you want), Sharing the goal publicly can be an effective way to spur yourself to do the hard, difficult work to prepare for the goal activity and since you don't want to be embarrassed by your own "shortcomings", you use the fear of embarrassment as one (and not the only) tool to help keep you focused on the actions needed to achieve the goal.
Why Now?
Why these musings? Well, as the last Blog post noted, we are starting to work on the 2013 cycling plan. The real questions of what we want/need to do in 2013 are important since if you don't actually set some personally meaningful goals, it is all to easy for the year to go by and find yourself unable to do some things you may have wanted or should have accomplished. When you get to be as experienced with the bicycling ability deficit disorder as I am (ie as old), you really have a sense of not letting a year go by without making it meaningful for yourself, your family & friends, and for others in general. How extreme the effects of aging are on ability to do athletic activities is a matter of some debate but that it occurs (at least after 55 it seems) appears to be a consensus observation - for reference, a broad review of the aging effects has been published at http://www.scsepf.org/doc/241209/08-JESF-A8.pdf [MASTERS ATHLETES: AN ANALYSIS OF RUNNING, SWIMMING AND CYCLING PERFORMANCE BY AGE AND GENDER, Ransdell, LB, Vener, J., Huberty, J., J Exerc Sci Fit • Vol 7 • No 2 (Suppl) • S61–S73 • 2009].
You can't buy happiness, but you can buy a bike, and that's pretty close
I don't know that buying a bike creates happiness but riding it certainly can (at least in hindsight after some hills). Last weekend, number one son and I visited a local boutique bicycle shop (R&E Cycles) to complete his journey of selecting the bike he wanted to have for the next year or so (see the next section on the likely follow on activity). As a cyclist finishing his first full year of cycling, he has really embraced the sport and has been very accomplished at riding with myself and friends. While at the start of the summer last, I often would make sure not to drop him on the longer hills, that is no longer an issue as I wave to him as he goes flying up the hills past his old puffing pater. All this time, he has been riding my "second" bike, a touring bike designed for on road and off road touring with travel fittings for bike disassembly (S&S Couplers). However, he is taller (and apparently stronger) than me, and getting a bike that fit him well and met his design needs/wants was the next step. We talked with other riders, did computer searches of reviews, rode a number of bikes made of Carbon, Aluminum, and Steel, with Shimano, SRAM, Campy (what he rides with on my bike) groups etc. Out of these experiences, he elected to a Rodriguez Rainier Sport/Randonneur Bicycle (http://www.rodcycle.com/) with SRAM Force gearing and a whole bunch of other cool items.
Here are a couple of pictures of him getting fitted last Saturday with Smiley at R&E Cycles
“Non nobis solum nati sumus." (Not for ourselves alone are we born.) - Marcus Tullius Cicero
While a lot of cycling aficionados focus on the high end performance areas (and there is joy in that I will point out!), there is also substantial value in helping others along the path of cycling achievement - sometimes just for the cycling and other times for factors only they understand. I found a lot of personal satisfaction in helping "slower" riders last year prepare for the STP and related rides and plan to do so again this year. I might quickly point out that more than a few of these riders can now out ride me both in terms of hill climbing, flat speeds, and overall cycling abilities! I find enjoyment in seeing these folks accomplish those goals for themselves (and many of them are close in age to me!!). This year, I have blessed with being able to work with the development training program for slower riders in our Cascade Training Series (CTS). The steering group for these riders met at our home for dinner the other week to lay out the 2013 plan. It was a great session in which we worked course design and discussed a systemic view of the training options we would be able to provide - remembering that this is an all volunteer activity!! Here we are at the start of the dinner prior to the planning session - all good work comes after a glass of wine (or two)!:
Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still. - Chinese Proverb (as sent out by Runner's World)
Looking ahead to the next few weeks of rides (Dec 8, 9, 15, 16, and 26 for example!), I think it is amazing that there is such a demand for riding in December in the Pacific Northwest! Amazing! What I think it indicates is that more and more people are wanting to be active and don't want to give up the joy they experience in riding (even though they may also want to "complain" about the weather, they still would rather ride and experience it than not). I love the quote above (and there are multiple variations of it) but the idea isn't to go fast, to win, etc in the context of rising above others, but instead to appreciate the accomplishment and achievement inherent in many of the activities we do even if they are not Olympic Gold Medal performances! Yesterday morning over coffee (for me) and tea (for my bride), we discussed how much we are enjoying retirement, not because we get to travel to exotic places (certainly not in my plans!), but because of how much we enjoy the pleasures of the mundane, the everyday events in our lives. Gardening, bicycle riding, shopping for groceries, etc are all part of life and represent the fun part of living. Perhaps that is why giving back and sharing experiences (Ride Leading, Master Gardener, etc) with others has become such an important part of our lives. I think the proverb above relates not only to the idea of "doing" versus "not doing", but also to the whole concept of being engaged with others in life and enjoying the vibrancy (and sometimes the frustrations) of interactions. I think a great example of a person who went forward in her life has been our colleague, Agnes - about 6 years ago she was a graduate student at the Technical University in Delft (Netherlands) - Agnes traveled to Paris in 2006 to meet for the first time with Vanessa (aka Biker Chick Extraordinaire) and myself at a SAMPE conference - in the intervening years she picked up and moved across the world to become an intern with our company, also do the research & dissertation authoring to get a PhD in composite material mechanics, become the company's first international Student of the Year, and, finally (despite many, many bureaucratic obstacles and discouragements) get hired by the company - and now she has received her Green Card for permanent residency! Truly an amazing story of one person's journey and the need to not "stand still"!
And in a totally unrelated vein....Duff Beer and Homer Simpson?
Who knew there really was a Duff Beer, the brew of choice for Homer Simpson in the long running cartoon series - and they have been to court to argue over who owns the trademark!! http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/bild-871439-434659.html
