It's time to get Serious

I was thinking about riding this morning. There was no earthly reason to be thinking about riding, because it was sleeting ice on everything and there have been 4,321 fender-benders in Spokane in the last three hours, but still, I was thinking about riding. Then I started thinking about how people approach the start of the cycling year, whenever that really comes about, and so I pretended to pose that question to my teammates.

Here is the resulting Q & A:

Question - Rider 1, what is your approach to the 2011 season going to look like?

Rider 1 aka Mr. Millimeter - Well, first of all, I am building a house so that is going to take up a lot of time. In fact, I have been blogging about it at Meadow House so take a look at it and discover a love affair between a handsome communications professional and his dream home. It really should be a series on the Arts and Lifestyle channel. But back to biking. I have been reviewing the position of my cleats in relationship to my metatarsal bone and have been seriously thinking about a multi-micron adjustment, probably about, now wait for it, maybe as much as 5 millimeters. I know that it might impact the wind-up on the sprint, but the trade-off is better power through the stroke right from the start line. So, I don't know where this might take me, but I am giving it serious thought when I'm not thinking about my house project. I'm doing a blog about it, by the way.

Question - Rider Two, what it is on your mind as the cycling season starts?

Quicksilver - What does that mean? The cycling season starts when your training wheels comes off and doesn't end until you trade a bike for a wheelchair. I haven't stopped riding and I won't stop riding. Sure, the most glorious time of the year comes around again, when wind and rain and mud and belgians and frittes and mur de hoy and arenburg forest all have their spotlight, but if you haven't been riding non-stop, you aren't ready. Now if you would kindly bugger off, I am going to ride my bike.

Question - Rider Three, what will the 2011 cycling season look like to you?

Rider Three - I have lots of plans for this year. It will be my most PRO year ever. First, I am going to support pro cycling this year by seeing if I can get my hands on performance enhancing drugs and one of those powerful but silent motors for my seat tube. Also, I am planning to break a lot of expensive equipment and whine as much as possible. And, to finish it all up, I am planning to blog about all of it, create some self-indulgent animated videos, and try to buy my way to more speed.

Question - Are you planning to ride your bike or race, Rider Three?

Rider Three - Oh, that. Well, sure. I am going to self-actualize. I am going to be positive. I am going to do a 6-minute ab workout followed by the 3-minute butt buster so that I look my very best in my team-issue skin suit.

Question - That is all well and good, but are you going to actually ride your bike?

Rider Three - Um, no. The whole idea to adding more riders to the team is that I can move into more of a managerial position but the team as a whole will still be pedaling just as many miles. I will be available to drive for motor-pacing. I can yell, "Venga, venga, venga" whenever the team goes by my barcalounger. I will be mixing margaritas and cooking up steaks on the deck to provide fortification for the team. See, that kind of thing. There are a lot of important things to do that just might take me away from any actual pedaling of the bike. I would like to say it is an age thing, but then Quicksilver always points out that he is a couple Mur de Hoys away from 60, so it really just comes down to being fat and lazy. Thanks for asking though.

So there you have it. Three approaches to cycling in 2011. As soon as I know the other team riders well enough to create nicknames for them and make merciless, or at least mirthless, fun of them, I'm sure they will be providing some additional thoughts. In the meantime, enjoy the sleet, the Versus coverage of the Tour Down Under and dream of bike rides. Or margaritas and steak.