Summer Blues and the Tour...

When July rolls around, I always get a little charge in the cycling batteries from watching the Tour De France. By this time I have usually been on the bike nonstop since March and I am feeling the burn from so many hours in the saddle. But this year there is just something missing in the Tour. Admittedly I am a little burned out right now. I am not feeling the excitement of the group rides that always turn into epic races on the weekends. I am having trouble getting motivated to get in all my training hours. And when I am on the bike lately I find myself thinking about other activities that I am missing.

I was taking my bike out of the garage yesterday before my weekend recovery ride and I could hear the music by the pool in my apartment complex and the urge to stick the bike back in the garage and go sit by the pool and just relax was nearly overwhelming. I felt such a heavy spot in my chest thinking about suffering through a 2 hour ride in 90 degree/90 % humidity weather while most other people were sitting around enjoying their Sunday morning.

I wanted to feel superior. I wanted to tell myself, "Look at those lazy asses, lounging by the pool!" "They don't have what it takes. They don't have the dedication and commitment to haul their abundant asses off the couch. You should be proud of yourself. " I wanted to feel righteous. I wanted to feel like riding my bike was fun and that there was nothing else I would rather be doing. But what I really wanted to do was anything but get on that bike.

The ride was exactly as I expected. Hot, slow, and tedious. "High cadence, easy spinning, light effort on the peddles." Yea, yea. More fun than I can put into words so I will spare you. I was looking for any reason to cut it short. "Man is that a rain cloud?" I said to the one tiny cloud in an ocean of blue sky. "Yea it looks like it could be bad" I am telling myself as I work hard to ignore the blue skies and sunshine all around me. “These Dura Ace components are way too expensive to get wet. I have to think about the long term.” These components have to last and that means keeping them out of the downpour that was so clearly coming any minute.

So I make a right turn and start to head back, glad that I am “mature enough to take care of my equipment.” I roughly retrace my steps and cut through an adjacent neighborhood to make it back before the deluge hits. I get the bike put away and oddly the sky looks much clearer to me now. "Wow it is clearing up" I say to myself. What good luck! Well since it looks like the rain is going to hold off...I guess I could go on over and sit by the pool."