I can't get no satisfaction
'Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can't get no, I can't get no
- Started the year off with several DNF's on 200K permanents as I tried to ramp up the miles in preparation for the Kansas City flèche team event. Never did finish one prior to the event.
- 17 April - Quad Cities 200K
- 25 April - Successfully completed the flèche anyway
- 1 May -
QC 300K DNS (back) - 11 May -
400K pre-ride DNF (back) - 15 May -
300K DNS (back)rode Fennimore 200K permanent - 22 May - Quad Cities 200K
- 29 May -
Quad Cities 400K DNF (back) - 30 May - Quad Cities 200K
- 5 June - Nowhere but Norwalk 200K
- 11 June -
Tour of the Driftless DNF (heat) - 19 June - Fennimore 200K
- 12 July -
High Country 1200K DNS (back) - 30 July - Successfully completed the Minnesota Randonneurs flèche
- 7 August -
Driftless 400K pre-ride DNF (back)
See a trend here? Not a lot of success for any distance beyond 300K, mostly due to my back. Since I've written a lot about my back woes I'll be more specific as to what's going on.
From mid-June 2020 when I herniated the disc at the S1 through surgery in late August and recovery through October I did as little bending, twisting or lifting as possible. The obvious consequence of this is a significant loss of core strength. After several months of trying to make progress on my own I started physical therapy in early July and verified what I already knew plus learned a few things:
- My core muscles were incredibly weak. I couldn't do a single sit-up without someone holding my feet i.e., I couldn't stabilize my core as I lifted myself up.
- My left calf is significantly weaker than my right.
- I had significant numbness in my left forefoot which could be made worse through exertion.
- I had periodic shooting pain down the outside of my left leg and left hip. My gluteus minimus was essentially in spasm causing referred pain down the leg.
After the PT visit I commenced a series of prescribed exercises while continuing to try to ride long distances with little to no success. Progress has been slow. It's been a month and I am still unable to complete the full suite of exercises and I'm not able to do them every day. The core exercises make my back hurt and the calf exercise causes significant Achilles strain. I persist though, typically I do them every other day but frequently do less than the prescribed number of repetitions.
The season is not over yet, but I've decided that I'm done with long brevets for the year. I've withdrawn from the Northern Virginia 1200K in mid-September and will not go to the Cracker Swamp 1200K in November (assuming it's held - Covid on the upswing in Florida) nor will I do the Driftless 400K and 600K on 14 August and 4 September, respectively.
Why am I (not) doing this? Two main reasons:
- Trying to do long rides and rebuild simultaneously just isn't working.
- The desire is gone.
The first is hopefully fixable by continuing the strength training. The second reason is a little more problematic. I've established via the success with the flèche rides that I'm able to ride nearly 400K and it should be noted that both routes were hilly so it wasn't as though they were softballs that I could knock out of the park. The difference (I think) is that a flèche is generally more relaxed than a normal brevet - you're going to ride for 24 hours regardless so there's not much emphasis on riding fast.
But right now I'm just tired of beating my head against the wall on longer brevets with zero success. I've done a number of very hard 400K+ brevets in my randonneuring career, some of which were far from "fun" but the common element, and what kept me at it, was the satisfaction of successfully meeting a challenge. There hasn't been a lot of that in the past two years.
An obvious question is why don't I just try a 400K and ride more slowly since I've got 27 hours to finish. Quite simply it's because that's not how I want to ride. For multi-day events (600K and above) I decided long ago that if I couldn't ride fast enough to get decent sleep (4 hours minimum) it was a sign I was done and at this point that appears to be where I'm at. I've no desire to finish a 400K just under the time limit and even less to do longer events that way.
So I'm done with events longer than 300K. Certainly for this year and maybe for good. This introduces at least one second order question: If I'm not doing long brevets (1200K's) I don't need longer brevets e.g., a Super Randonneur series as qualifying rides and I can just as easily satisfy any desire I have to do 300K or less via permanents that I can ride at a time and venue of my own choosing. If I'm not able or not interested in doing a Series or longer brevets should I continue as RBA?
I need to submit a 2022 schedule for both regions by the end of September so there is some deadline pressure to make a decision. This decision isn't knife edged. I could for example just do the minimum (RUSA requires RBA's to hold at least a 200K and 300K brevet) in 2022 and then make a decision for 2023 as to whether I continue.
But running both regions is a lot of work even with an abbreviated schedule. Running a full series in both regions ties me down running brevets for virtually every weekend between mid-April through June and then again in the fall then there's the ancillary work of previewing routes, running the web sites, etc. It's a big time commitment.
Much to think about.
I still love riding my bike. I averaged 10K miles/year for a long time before I did my first brevet so I know there are lots of ways to enjoy riding without doing long brevets. I'm certain I'll continue to ride, and ride distances that most people think are "crazy" but perhaps I'm done with those longer than 300K.
Stay tuned!
