Originally Posted by Ygduf
(Post 19534949)
I'm like inches from putting away bikes and finding a new hobby. Scarponi with his kids in his final tweet basically put into image the concerns I've had for some time. Getting brushed by a car the week before, and having a number of local guys hospitalized, and one in a coma, after a group-ride crash on Friday are all contributing to my inability to ignore what I kind of feel is my better judgment.
Group rides offer some sense of "safety in numbers", but the risk of stupid crashes increases as well (this year's local race ride scene has had at least 6 rough ones to date). Maybe TTs on the local canal access road (closed to traffic) is where I'll spend more of my time until the joy fades. |
yeah, not trying to be a total downer but the whole thing is making me kind of sad. I've never connected with anything like I have cycling and am overall feeling sad about it.
Made the break in the race yesterday, had my usual end-of-break **** finish because it came to a sprint and I was basically changed and driving home by the time the rest of the guys finished the cooldown lap. |
Any traffic-free options available? Track, cyclocross, MTB, ... ?
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Originally Posted by TMonk
(Post 19527904)
I graduated out of the patching 'caste' when I got my first real job after college.
I'll still patch but only if I have to out on the road to get home. I carry two tubes with me on every ride so it happens <1 per year. I patch old tubes once I get about 20 or so collected together and then I do them all at once. It is cheaper when you buy patches and glue in bulk. The patches stay fresh, but the glue goes bad once opened. |
Originally Posted by Flatballer
(Post 19529013)
Yeah, I pretty much trust whatever tire rack says, they know their stuff.
My job is unlike any I've had before. Boss comes to me about 3 today. There's a bit of an emergency, can you go to a substation Sunday? And also Monday. And maybe another on Thursday? At least he's giving me Friday off if I work Sunday. And we get extra pay when we're out in the field in the heat and cold and working long hours around dangerous electricity. This will be the first time I'm in a 500kV station I think. So that's fun. |
Today while looking through the archives for racing/training material I came across this.
Originally Posted by Ygduf
(Post 18262923)
are you saying to cherry pick from other parts of my life to validate my worth, or to cherry pick certain races and try to remain competitive despite having my life ruined by this unwanted second child! They'll be delivered via c-section for sure, but whichever is pulled out second is growing up wearing potato sacks and grocery bags with arm holes cut out.
You're right of course. Cars are getting faster, people less attentive, and both are getting more numerous. I'm not going to repeat my unsolicited thoughts here. I will say, compared to Scarponi, your job and the people you work for are much less likely to result in your wife getting "the call" than someone else getting "the email". Scheibo recently mentioned your time up OLH being respectable and I didn't realize just how recent that placing was. Less than the year plus however many days old your kids are now. From that same thread quoted above here is what GC thought of your ninny leanings. Get back to us when they discover matches or make that exclusive pre-pre selection you just know we'll all be so proud of we'll need pictures and a birth story to fully absorb our feeling on the matter.
Originally Posted by globecanvas
(Post 18263333)
Those of us who already have twins, plus other kids too, would like you to stop complaining about the twins.
Originally Posted by Ygduf
(Post 19535123)
yeah, not trying to be a total downer but the whole thing is making me kind of sad. I've never connected with anything like I have cycling and am overall feeling sad about it.
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I've started giving track a go this year. It's a three hour drive there, but it's different. And the lack of cars is definitely a plus.
That said, Monday through Friday, I'm on the rollers or trainer. I don't bother trying to ride among the cars during the workweek. |
Last year, we lost 4 local riders in a 2 month span, that got me thinking. I also don't think my wife wants me riding anymore after so many close calls. I really do enjoy cycling though, so its hard to just walk away.
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Originally Posted by miyata man
(Post 19535155)
Today while looking through the archives for racing/training material I came across this.
For starters, the kids always come first, which you are no doubt aware of now. So I hope there is a big and tall grocery store near you that tailors for the cyclist build. Next, a lot of your development is tied to theirs. I'd feel very confident postulating for them how the second parent is You're right of course. Cars are getting faster, people less attentive, and both are getting more numerous. I'm not going to repeat my unsolicited thoughts here. I will say, compared to Scarponi, your job and the people you work for are much less likely to result in your wife getting "the call" than someone else getting "the email". Scheibo recently mentioned your time up OLH being respectable and I didn't realize just how recent that placing was. Less than the year plus however many days old your kids are now. From that same thread quoted above here is what GC thought of your ninny leanings. Get back to us when they discover matches or make that exclusive pre-pre selection you just know we'll all be so proud of we'll need pictures and a birth story to fully absorb our feeling on the matter. |
I think my odds of dying by fat and of shape if I don't start riding again are higher than dying by car if I do start riding again, but maybe I'm just justifying.
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I don't have kids but I can understand how having them changes the risk calculation. I have to think though, that having a father that is happy, active, and does what he genuinely enjoys would benefit them a lot as they grow up. There's gotta be a way to make it all work.
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Originally Posted by TheKillerPenguin
(Post 19535257)
I don't have kids but I can understand how having them changes the risk calculation. I have to think though, that having a father that is happy, active, and does what he genuinely enjoys would benefit them a lot as they grow up. There's gotta be a way to make it all work.
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There's a pretty pronounced genetic disposition towards heart disease and chemical dependence on my dad's side of the family. It's funny how many of my cousins of my generation are pretty hardcore active. A couple of cousins do several IM's a year, another is through-hiking the Appalachian Trail, another does open water swim races, I race bikes.
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Y, replicating the type of fitness you have now after a few years off is not going to happen. Fat jokes and shots about your emotional state are all in good fun, but probably worthless attempts to penetrate your current state. What appears to need to happen is somehow making it work until the kids get a little bit older, repeatedly.
That means really listening to that nagging little voice in your head without fully giving yourself over to it. Chances are you'll come back with a fresher perspective on racing or enjoy talking to the people on group rides more. Sneak out now and then to keep sane. Otherwise doing max cadence burping intervals on Zwift for the next few months will do more for you long term than weak attempts to fully enjoy a new hobby. Which by no means rules out a new hobby in whatever limited time you have. From my perspective your biggest hurdle is holding a kid in each arm makes relaxing with a beer into not relaxing with a beer, ever. Pre-pre selection is so ridiculous it can't even qualify as an acceptable human endeavor. |
Originally Posted by Ygduf
(Post 19535227)
this is one of the times I wish you'd write like a normal person with understandable phrasing.
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But fairly and quite obviously for the purpose of pointing out numerous other people have survived being a new parent and riding a bike. Unless you thought he was being serious about separating the twins at birth and hiding one under the stairs with nothing to wear but a potato sack and grocery bags. My intent was not to be injurious to either party here.
Originally Posted by globecanvas
(Post 18263333)
Those of us who already have twins, plus other kids too, would like you to stop complaining about the twins you don't even have yet.
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Originally Posted by furiousferret
(Post 19535219)
Last year, we lost 4 local riders in a 2 month span, that got me thinking. I also don't think my wife wants me riding anymore after so many close calls. I really do enjoy cycling though, so its hard to just walk away.
It seems like it's not bike racing that's dangerous; it's the training is where people get really really hurt. |
Originally Posted by furiousferret
(Post 19535219)
Last year, we lost 4 local riders in a 2 month span, that got me thinking. I also don't think my wife wants me riding anymore after so many close calls. I really do enjoy cycling though, so its hard to just walk away.
He is the one that talked me out of road riding. I kind of miss it, though. |
Originally Posted by Flatballer
(Post 19535237)
I think my odds of dying by fat and of shape if I don't start riding again are higher than dying by car if I do start riding again, but maybe I'm just justifying.
|
Here in Houston, traffic has gotten noticeably worse since I started riding. With the city's sprawl, you have to ride further and longer to get to the decent roads. I'm not worried so much about the cars as the inconvenience.
So I just ride the trainer now. |
Originally Posted by mattm
(Post 19535495)
This has probably already been covered, and doesn't really change much but..
It seems like it's not bike racing that's dangerous; it's the training is where people get really really hurt. Racing is mostly scrapes, broken bones, etc. Although evaluating an array of hobbies, bike racing is more dangerous than badminton, knitting, football, and hockey. |
Originally Posted by Ygduf
(Post 19535227)
this is one of the times I wish you'd write like a normal person with understandable phrasing.
|
Originally Posted by furiousferret
(Post 19535758)
Although evaluating an array of hobbies, bike racing is more dangerous than badminton, knitting, football, and hockey.
But yeah, bike racing is definitely risky - there's no way around it. Road riding/commuting is even riskier. Hockey though.. I thought it was kind of a joke that hockey players have missing teeth, then saw a game on TV recently and realized it's not a joke at all. What if someone was in to recreational/weekend hockey and came in to worth with missing teeth?! |
Originally Posted by Ygduf
(Post 19534949)
Scarponi with his kids in his final tweet basically put into image the concerns I've had for some time.
The world would be a far better place without automobiles. Would be nice if the governments around the world realized that. I ride in India where people drive crazy. A ride without close calls is a rarity. And yet, I have to ride to be sane. |
Originally Posted by johnybutts
(Post 19535671)
Here in Houston, traffic has gotten noticeably worse since I started riding. With the city's sprawl, you have to ride further and longer to get to the decent roads. I'm not worried so much about the cars as the inconvenience.
So I just ride the trainer now.
Originally Posted by topflightpro
(Post 19535175)
I've started giving track a go this year. It's a three hour drive there, but it's different. And the lack of cars is definitely a plus.
That said, Monday through Friday, I'm on the rollers or trainer. I don't bother trying to ride among the cars during the workweek. I've gotten very caution about my riding lately, spending hours on google maps to make sure that roads have shoulders (though that alone is no guarantee of anything). Perhaps eventually i'll do M-F riding on rollers as well, and if it's summer, i'll probably have to use ice vests |
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