Pride cometh before a fall
Mar. 27th, 2010 02:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lprovenI've just had a fairly good day. Banked nearly a grand, paid a large bill that's been hanging over me, got some errands and jobs done.
Then I leapt onto the Claud Butler and pedalled uptown to Holborn to a friend's birthday drinkie -- also to meet with a different friend to discuss a book we're thinking of writing together.
Hung around 'til about midnight, then back on the bike for the ride home. Bit of a slog - I've lost a lot of condition since October when my bike, locked up outside Colliers Wood Tube, got hit by a bus and badly damaged. The bus company, Abellio, did admit liability & pay up without much of a fight, but it was five months before I got the bike back. Result: I've lost a lot of fitness. I did about 30-35 miles on Wednesday night (Mitcham to Ealing to Kingston to Mitcham) and that was quite a push -- I was starting to get some serious knee pain by the last 4 miles or so.
But as I came down through Tooting at about 1am, a "lycra lad" pulled out in front of me and starting honking to accelerate. LL is my slightly envious personal term for the sort of wiry fit racing cyclists you see propelling skinny lightweight bikes at high speeds up hills and so on. On my recumbent, it used to be a particular pleasure of mine to streak past them on downhills.
I looked ahead and saw a big group of 20-30 bikes waiting for him - all fully accoutred in high-viz jackets, multiple lights, helmets, SPD shoes etc. And in front of them, another bigger group, maybe twice as many.
I stopped by the rearguard and asked what the group was in aid of.
"We're going to Brighton!" said a cheerful chap about 20y older than me and a lot thinner and fitter-looking. Another chipped in:
"It's the Friday night ride to the coast," he said, looking me up & down. "Join us!"
I guess I looked the part. Helmet, riding gloves, hi-viz, 2 lights front + 2 rear, SPDs, etc, on a drop-handlebar tourer. I demurred, though.
"I've just done 20 miles," I protested.
"That's a good warm-up, then," offered another.
"I'm not sure I'm dressed or equipped," I quavered. I had no food or drink, no batteries for my lights, and was wearing combats and a T-shirt. I also had to push myself to make it back from town.
"Nonsense," said the second chap. "You're fine! You've a veritable Lance Armstrong compared to some of us. Why, there's a chap on a pennyfarthing up the front!"
I was tempted. I rode up to the front of the group, going a half a mile out of my way, spotting all manner of riders on a fair variety of bikes, although uniformly well-equipped. One recumbent bike, one recumbent trike. No pennyfarthing but a chap on tall bike.
I didn't go. I'm not up to a random 50-mile trip with no preparation, on a cold damp night. Especially not after three pints.
But I wish I could have done.
I badly want to get back into some kind of shape, and I'm going to, but right now, it seems even more pressingly urgent than before.
And so does getting a new recumbent. I did the London-to-Brighton on the tourer last year -- the first time I've done it on an upright bicycle since the 1980s -- and it caused so much pain, especially in the knee of my rebuilt leg, that I thought I wouldn't make it. I want a proper bike again, one you lie down on, not one of these silly 1880s safety bicycles. They have their uses but long distance rides aren't one of them.
But there y'go. Riding home after a pleasant evening, feeling fairly virtuous about healthful exercise -- and 5min later, I'm feeling lazy, unfit and undermotivated.
PWNED, in fact.
Then I leapt onto the Claud Butler and pedalled uptown to Holborn to a friend's birthday drinkie -- also to meet with a different friend to discuss a book we're thinking of writing together.
Hung around 'til about midnight, then back on the bike for the ride home. Bit of a slog - I've lost a lot of condition since October when my bike, locked up outside Colliers Wood Tube, got hit by a bus and badly damaged. The bus company, Abellio, did admit liability & pay up without much of a fight, but it was five months before I got the bike back. Result: I've lost a lot of fitness. I did about 30-35 miles on Wednesday night (Mitcham to Ealing to Kingston to Mitcham) and that was quite a push -- I was starting to get some serious knee pain by the last 4 miles or so.
But as I came down through Tooting at about 1am, a "lycra lad" pulled out in front of me and starting honking to accelerate. LL is my slightly envious personal term for the sort of wiry fit racing cyclists you see propelling skinny lightweight bikes at high speeds up hills and so on. On my recumbent, it used to be a particular pleasure of mine to streak past them on downhills.
I looked ahead and saw a big group of 20-30 bikes waiting for him - all fully accoutred in high-viz jackets, multiple lights, helmets, SPD shoes etc. And in front of them, another bigger group, maybe twice as many.
I stopped by the rearguard and asked what the group was in aid of.
"We're going to Brighton!" said a cheerful chap about 20y older than me and a lot thinner and fitter-looking. Another chipped in:
"It's the Friday night ride to the coast," he said, looking me up & down. "Join us!"
I guess I looked the part. Helmet, riding gloves, hi-viz, 2 lights front + 2 rear, SPDs, etc, on a drop-handlebar tourer. I demurred, though.
"I've just done 20 miles," I protested.
"That's a good warm-up, then," offered another.
"I'm not sure I'm dressed or equipped," I quavered. I had no food or drink, no batteries for my lights, and was wearing combats and a T-shirt. I also had to push myself to make it back from town.
"Nonsense," said the second chap. "You're fine! You've a veritable Lance Armstrong compared to some of us. Why, there's a chap on a pennyfarthing up the front!"
I was tempted. I rode up to the front of the group, going a half a mile out of my way, spotting all manner of riders on a fair variety of bikes, although uniformly well-equipped. One recumbent bike, one recumbent trike. No pennyfarthing but a chap on tall bike.
I didn't go. I'm not up to a random 50-mile trip with no preparation, on a cold damp night. Especially not after three pints.
But I wish I could have done.
I badly want to get back into some kind of shape, and I'm going to, but right now, it seems even more pressingly urgent than before.
And so does getting a new recumbent. I did the London-to-Brighton on the tourer last year -- the first time I've done it on an upright bicycle since the 1980s -- and it caused so much pain, especially in the knee of my rebuilt leg, that I thought I wouldn't make it. I want a proper bike again, one you lie down on, not one of these silly 1880s safety bicycles. They have their uses but long distance rides aren't one of them.
But there y'go. Riding home after a pleasant evening, feeling fairly virtuous about healthful exercise -- and 5min later, I'm feeling lazy, unfit and undermotivated.
PWNED, in fact.
