Rob P.

In addition to all the things that have been said: you should look at your riding as what you can accomplish. I do not believe that any of us think we are "da bomb" when it comes to riding. There is always something that we each try to reach for. And sometimes we achieve that goal and don't even realize it.

For instance, I tell everyone I'm slow. And I really think I am. I have a friend who used to average 23 mph over 50 miles solo on a rigid frame MTN BIKE WITH KNOBBIES!!! He could drop me within 50 feet of the starting line and disappear within a minute. It was painful and embarrassing because I felt (and still do feel) like I am turtle slow.

But, last Saturday I went on my first group ride. It was the "slow group" from the local bike club and they said they average 15-18 mph. My kinda speed. NOT! Their average speed was actually something like 8-10 mph because of all the breaks they took (15 mins every 5 miles). Their pedal speed was only 14 mph underway. I dropped them at the halfway stop by leaving early. An hour to eat a donut is too long when you're 20 miles from home. I also started to get lazy from just sitting and doing nothing so I left early after a half hour at the stop. 46 miles total for me on that ride and my average speed on the way back was 18 mph including the 3 min rest break at 10 miles out.

Even though I know better because of last Saturday, I still think I'm slow and that my hill climbing sucks. It's all relative.

ritepath

wait until you're an old turd that can't ride worth a crap...then you'll be me.

Of course I can out ride my 6 and 4 year old.

Desertsasquach

I cut my arm in half 20 years ago while rehabilitating from that injury I tuned in and learned to listen to my muscles . What the doctors recommended was not enough so I made my own regiment and now you can't even tell that my arm was injured . About 7 years ago blown out right knee (missing 35% of my interior medial meniscus ) again I did it myself just by knowing my muscles pulled thousands of pounds on pallet jacks at Lowe's . Now 3 years ago I had a 2x4 fall 35' and speared me in the spine .The doctors were gonna fuse my disks or something like that, but I told them I would do it my way. I bought this bike to work on my spinal alignment about 7 months after the accident. Now I am riding 65 + miles a week feeling incredible again seeing the top of the ocean that is recovery , I can only hope that every man and woman will see the dedication in this short bio of self damage repair . We expect a lot from our bodies , I like to think I retrain my brain with every injury I recover from . My goal is to make myself as efficient as possible and not let any outside influences affect what I know I can do . So when I sucked at riding my bike that was really that furthest thing from my mind, I was too busy listening to my body to register whether I sucked or not...I would register where the pain was and focus on that area until it wasn't a problem anymore or less of a problem. Think positive about what you have accomplished and grow on that till you get where you want to be . Hope this will give you something to think about other than sucking on your bike ...

cg1985

What do you people refer to when you say "skills?"

I mean, Faster, stronger, stamina, that's one thing, but what "skills?"

Is "spinning" a Skill? Cornering? Track stands? bunny Hops? Etc etc..

are those the skills you refer to?

apricissimus 

Not sure if you're directing the question toward me (the OP), but I'll answer anyway.

All those things you mentioned I would consider valuable cycling skills. I would also add the ability to accelerate quickly, maneuvering ability in tight spots, unweighting yourself over short rough spots, hitting gaps (and knowing which ones are too narrow), reacting well to emergency situations (like this morning when I was almost hit by a car!). There are probably others I'm not thinking of.

My original post was referring mostly to the speed, strength, stamina aspect. That's where I feel I've plateaued.

cg1985

I see, I guess I never really thought about skills in general.. I just ride. vOv

Phantoj

You know, like nunchuku skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills... Girls only want boyfriends who have great skills.

cg1985

i swear I've heard that line before...

Desertsasquach

sorry

Desertsasquach

that was a great analogy about the car I mean not bad on the Idol comment either

Andrea_C

I have the same problem...I'm a perfectionist and I like to be first at everything...but the beauty of cycling is the constant lessons that it teaches..part of that is learning that in this particular thing,there's so much people better than me,and I have to accept that no matter how hard I try,I will only get better on time,because the body goes through a process were it sets its own pace and this pace can't be fastened..I've always struggled with this,and it's usually pretty painful..right now I'm training really hard to be better AND specially to be able to ride with other groups without being the last one or suffering to get to the destination.This is my first goal..
I hope that I can somehow get to the point were it won't matter to me,but it's something that I have to fight to achieve..the reason? my personality and the fact that this is my first sport and I had never done anything else in my life other than watching t.v and being a couch potato,so my body is just getting used to working.

We just have to learn to change this and keep riding.

MrCrassic 

Improve your mental fitness.

Instead of saying that 'you suck,' turn that into saying that you 'have a lot of work to do,' or something that sounds more positive and a tone that acknowledges that you can improve.

That helped me improve immensely. It seems to be a biblical commandment for most, if not all, pro athletes.

The extra riding time and improvements will follow from that.

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