Tuesday, March 04, 2008

What Am I Missing?

Sometimes it is best if I do not say anything. Yesterday would have been one of those days. My attitude stunk! I know that nothing I would have written (or actually did write last night, but failed to post) would have come across as anything other than depressing.

Over the weekend, I managed to fill 5+ hours of my Sunday by volunteering on behalf of the Minnesota Off Road Cyclists for the annual County Cycles open house. It was a good opportunity to connect with a number of different people.

I think what got me down on Monday was the fact that I spent most of the weekend off my bike. I rode up to the bike shop and back, but that was it. It was beautiful on the way up when it was 38 degrees. By the time I was on my way home, it had dropped to 24. Then Monday morning arrived, it was only 7 degrees with steady winds out of the west (headwind) and double-digit negative wind-chill values.

Shaping up to be another tough week mentally as more below “normal” temperatures are forecasted.

This morning I went through some thoughts on what makes for successful commuting. So much of what seem to be the areas of concentration for improving the commuter experience have been on addressing equipment, accommodations, and following rules. I think preparation mentally is at least equally important.

Patience: accept the fact that it is going to take 2-3 times as long to ride your bike compared to driving. Accept this and you will be pleasantly surprised if it takes less.

Experiment: Do not under-estimate the number of experiments that you will need to be willing to conduct testing with your route, clothing, bicycle, times of day, weather, etc.

Adventure: Treat each trip as an adventure. Closely related to our friends patience and experimentation. It takes an adventurous attitude and willingness to face adversity and persevere.

What else am I missing?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Awesomeness"

and

"Ginormousness",

2 words I try to mutter on each & every ride. [doesn't really matter when or at what you say them, just say them though]

-Me

Anonymous said...

Guess no one digs my 2 words...

...well I do.

Damnit.

-Me

Reflector Collector said...

I audibly scream now and then while riding...

Right now, I have a case of "stick-to-it-tiveness"

Been running with a bit of a case of "sickentired-a-effinwinterentites"

That's a good word

Anonymous said...

How about a phrase, instead of just one word?

A couple months ago I was bored at the office and was reading old posts on MNBicycleCommuter's blog, there was this one line that has stuck with me:

"Get out and ride, the more you are out the easier it is."

Simple, and fairly obvious, but I like the ring to it, a nice turn on 'practice makes perfect.'

It pops in my head when I ride on mornings like this (one degree with a headwind.)

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