I recently spent ten days off the bike… TEN DAYS!! Possibly the longest I have been off the bike in nearly twenty years. Some of that time off was an attempt to rest my lower back–which has been a making riding less than fun for the past month or so–and parts were due to bad luck with weather, spending time with my family unit away from home at B-Man’s soccer tournament and occasionally just not giving a shit about riding my bike. However, my back finally started to ease up a bit and I finally started to give a shit again, so I rode. It was swell.
My goals for Saturday’s ride was simple: go to MMCC, do a big lap (around 15 miles minus the White Trail) and if my back felt good do some more. While I did experience a bit of lower back tiredness (for lack of a better word), there was very little pain. At no point did I have to stop during that 15+ mile lap due to discomfort, something I hadn’t done in a long time. So when my lap was finished, I headed back out and did the old school 10 mile loop in reverse (the very direction in which I crashed a month or so ago and really got this bad back thing rolling) and continued to feel good.
As much as I bitch about my weight gain and a host of other ailments that come with being an aging douche bag, my riding only ever seems to be limited by desire or my lower back. My cardio, legs, etc., are usually not the issues. Now I am not saying that I’m fast or extremely skilled, that would be a lie, but I do OK… ish and hope that one day the back pain is a complete nonissue. Then I can just focus on getting my desire back and completely rid of the occasional bitterness with cycling that I’ve experienced on and off again since the demise of XXC Magazine. Nothing a little therapy couldn’t help with, and by “therapy” I mean more time on my bike.
Since my summer weekdays limit my time in the saddle, it’s time to stop writing and head out for some dirt road riding. Hopefully I feel as good as I did on Saturday.
Later.