I’m with Ira Ryan:

i am a cyclist that loves to ride and train and will happily ride all day and all night, but something about the race face is hard for me to get. i buckle under the silly stress of all the serious looks and nervousness at the line. it is hard for me to take it too seriously when there is more to life than racing. in my opinion, the number of people riding their old bikes with racks and rain capes to work everyday all winter do more for the “cause” than all the carbon race bikes in the world combined. i straddle the fence of interest. on one side, i am a self proclaimed roadie-fag. somethin about seeing the 1996 mapei kit covered in dust on the way to the velodrome finish gets me right in the heart. old briko sunglasses and hairnets on belgian pros from the 80’s stoke up my first memeories of bike racing and training as a junior. my other side needs the underlying movement of millions of people quietly riding their bikes to work every day of the year not questioning their heartrate or the bike under them. often times it is the same bike they have had for 10 years. this sort of petina on a machine tells me a story of a million things this person might have seen on their way to work or the store. i go back and forth between these two motivators to why i want to build and ride bicycles. sometimes i feel like i am training for my commute.

I really enjoy racing at the Oval–it’s convenient, relatively inexpensive, and fun. Road racing is kinda fun, too, but the commitment of driving, finding a ride, paying $20, and juggling other priorities isn’t always fun. I probably won’t race outside of the Oval until the Oakmont crit, which is nearly as convenient as the Oval. Last night, while half-heartedly doing intervals in Highland Park, I was pining for something different–perhaps another brevet. Part of me still likes the idea of randonneuring, but the time commitment for that is probably quadruple that of racing, though there is hope with the burgeoning Pittsburgh Randonneurs group.

My competitive drive waxes and wanes, and I essentially don’t have any real “goals” for this season. I think a category 3 upgrade is out of the question, and even if it wasn’t, I’m not sure I’m ready to commit to the time that would be needed to get there. I’ve even been wobbling a bit on my selection of races at the Oval. At least for the next few weeks, I’ll be the only team guy at the B races, so maybe I should race the Cs with the rest of guys. We’ll see. Of course, maybe I could have scored a few top ten finishes in the Bs, but since I’ve only finished one race thanks to mechanicals, I’ll never know.

Posted on 25 April 2009