Pedaling by sensation versus pedaling with a heart rate monitor
Some days ago I met a good friend pedaling through the roads of Huesca. He had lost track of her since he went to live in Barcelona for a few years, so we take the opportunity to catch up and we talked about everything a little: family, work, solving the country and, of course, our common passion, which is cycling.
He was competing in amateurs, then he moved to duathlon and then triathlon. He told me that I haven't touched my bike for ten years. and he was surprised when I told him that I had not stopped riding for twenty years – it is clear that not daily because daily responsibilities prevent me from doing so, but always taking hours where there are none to pedal...
Asked the reason for his abandonment for so many years: were you injured? work?
- "no no…I ended up burned! I realize that so much training and so much sacrifice are of no use. And why haven't you left it?
-"Scabies with pleasure does not itch"
And the thing stayed there, but when I got home I started thinking about his question.
Pedaling by sensations
For years I have been free from training, that is, I do not have any programmed planning, neither microcycles nor mesocycles, nor series, nor heart rate monitor, simply I let myself be carried away by sensations: far from being the most optimal for my performance, I do what I most want at any given moment.
Now this is my attitude towards cycling. It is nothing more than a personal approach to avoid hating competitive cycling, hard, demanding, but enormously rewarding, for that very reason. I want to continue putting on a bib from time to time. Precisely because I have known professional cycling and the pressure to perform despite personal circumstances not being favorable, I have known how to recycle my approach every time I ride a bike, so as not to kill that bug that I got hooked on as a child when I debuted in the first competitions, now I can say that I don't train, I just enjoy.
Leaving aside the heart rate monitor, watts and other performance measuring elements is sometimes necessary to free the mind, enjoy the simple act of pedaling Because yes, ask yourself why you are on the bike and not become an entity programmed to perform with the sole motivation of becoming finer, stronger, faster... whose self-image is that of a pro cyclist, but of course, without being one, taking on extra responsibility to his daily obligations, family, work... Training often becomes the enemy and guilty of abandoning the bike, as happened to my friend.
Pressure and lack of results leads to abandonment
we have all known Shooting Stars, not only in professionals, but also in our environment: that kid who has been riding for four days, with an innate class that wins everything; the new guy from the group who rides like a howitzer, is fine, has a “cucumber” bike and many times does not go out in a group complete methodical training that his coach sends him to achieve his sporting goals, it would be very legitimate!
But precisely is this profile,, in a very large percentage, those who one day you no longer see pedaling, because they cannot train what they consider they should to perform at their optimal level; Those who can overtrain, due to the ambition to perform more and more and when the day of their great goal arrives, fail miserably, because the pressure has gotten the better of them or for other reasons.
That's when the bike becomes an enemy, who has stolen their time, money and has also not rewarded them. So, in the best of cases, they temporarily distance themselves from cycling and in many cases they do not want to touch it again, not even with a stick, trying to find in another sport the reward they deserve to mitigate that bittersweet taste that the damn bicycle has left them. .
The true cyclist who loves the bike
Surely in your city or town you have typical cyclist that you have been watching him pedal all his life, at his pace, indifferent to what is happening around him, oblivious to the “gossip” of the groups, fashions and new trends. Oblivious because he has decided so, so as not to intoxicate his love for the bicycle; foreign so that it maintains the essence that captivated him when he started pedaling, and he continues pedaling, competing or not, but with a perpetual smile while he rides it.
For me, and this is a very personal opinion, these are real cyclists. Those who are oblivious to external factors, who no longer care if they have hair on their legs or not, their clothing, if their bike is out of fashion... They are lucky to have a great friend for life., with which they will discover new landscapes, meet new friends, tour cities and why not, continue competing, because they are clear that the bike is part of them, and with it they relate to the environment in a more friendly way, but above all they relate to themselves, in some cases literally ;).
Sergio Pérez, former professional cyclist and founding partner
