Sometimes you gotta watch some suffering to get in the mood. Case in point, Stage 14 of the 1988 Giro d’Italia, Passo di Gavia.
It’s getting to be that time of year again when it will start to become real easy to find excuses not ride outside: too windy, rainy, cold, slushy, icy, dark, etc., I’m not going to lie to you, I am certain that I will use every one of those excuses more than once over the next four months or so. Having said that, there is something to be said for suffering through the slop… I wish I would force myself out into it more often.
The funny thing is, I sort of enjoy racing and riding in the mud, snow and slop, but when I’m standing in a warm house watching the trees bend and rain fall it’s just too freaking easy to say “fuck it.” The hardest part for me is actually pushing myself out the door, once I am out IN the cold and wet, I can usually get through it and even enjoy it.
What I need to do, is watch more and more videos of the infamous old, shit condition races, because I know as soon as I start watching I start feeling that familiar twitch in my loins that makes me want to go out and suffer. Hell, I didn’t get through two minutes of watching the clip below without thinking that I should race the Lowell 50 on Saturday and decide which endurance races I want to do in 2014, even though I convinced myself (and my doctor), that I retired from such silliness a while back.
Like I said, sometimes you gotta watch some suffering to get in the mood…