Be a Better Biker

I chuckled at the alliteration. Be a better biker. Reminded me of picking a peck of pickled peppers. Or a woodchuck chucking wood. Still, I think the concept is a sound one, leading us to the natural next of the challenge, the how to.

To be a better biker one must bike. Sure you can be a decent rider going out only when the sun is shinning and all the chores have all been done. And that is OK, but if you want to get faster, ride longer, get to the top of the hill first or to the finish line before most of the others in your age standard, you are gong to have to do more. That is the way that our motors improve. More.

More attention to detail, more power output, more pedal rotations and more focus. Please notice I didn't say more miles or more minutes. (although they have a time and place.) If you want to be a better biker you are gong to have to tune your motor. That is what powers us through time and space. It is the dynamo from which our power to weight ratios emerge. As well as our eventual speed and our strength to climb. An advertising hook might even say, "It's the motor." That would not be a falsification.

For those of us that choose to live in the Northwest that means you need to ride in the cold, ride in the rain and ride when others are not. You need to ride indoors. Going nowhere physically, but everywhere mentally. Indoors you get to ride the TdF, Giro, Tour of California and at Kona, Lake Placid or Coeur d'Alene. You can ride with Crowie, Macca, Chrissy and Dibs. You can ride with the best of the best, and in so spinning, dramatically improve the performance of your engine.

Yesterday, we rode in the rain, wind, sleet, slush and snow. Some of us were out there for five hours, up, down, across and over. Till we got in 33 traditional miles with 2,500 ft of gain. There was effort rewarded, the proof of time well spent and the immense satisfaction of challenge accepted. Motion, movement, the purring of motors at work.

Are we better bikers today?

I believe so.

Pic: The camera captures the biker becoming better. Scott as mechanic, Mike as pilot and the RCVman as witness.