Why is this a big deal?

I have been cycling as a "cyclist" since 2005. I've been cycling for the adventure since 1999 and before that I was just like any other kid on a bike. I've seen and done a lot of things on my bike and as you probably gathered from my last post I am pretty competitive. Strava and dailymile are my main outlets for this and they truly do seem to offer some serious inspiration.

Since I started using Strava last September I have been creating and attempting to top every segment in Clay Springs and the immediate area. If a segment already existed I was trying to top it, if a significant portion of road or trail didn't have segment I created it and as you may know strava builds the leaderboard from all past and future attempts. The mountain segments were easy, since my wife and I are really the only ones out here. The road segments on the other hand vary from a good challenge to a substantial record. A sanctioned road race runs through here every summer as does the bike section of a major triathlon.

For this reason one segment in town has eluded me. The Sawmill TT is .7 or just about 3/4 of a mile long. I sold my Time Trial bike at the beginning of October in order to get my mountain bike but before I did I went after this segment. I was pretty out of shape and failed miserably. I was completely cooked too. I don't normally get sick to my stomach on a bike but I did that day. The average speed was far out of my reach that day even though I was fully capable of those speeds in the past. I waited until November of last year and went for it on my road bike. I averaged 31.8 miles an hour and had the third fastest time (but was ten places back because of numerous ties) I started out great hitting a top speed of over 38 mph but I just couldn't keep it going over the last quarter mile. I couldn't hold that effort for that long.

Finally after riding consistently on my road and mountain bike (mostly mountain) over the last few months I decided to go for it again. I found that I had much more stamina and was able to keep it up until the finish. I averaged 33.9 mph with a time of 1 minute 18 seconds and put a significant gap between myself and the rest of the field. Surprisingly I believe that I can actually beat that time by a good margin. I blew out my tire on a ride at the beginning of the week and had to borrow my brothers wheels until I get new tires. Not only was I not on aero rims and high quality hubs like I normally would be but I was riding on heavy and old thorn resistant tires. Couple that with the fact that I didn't commit to the segment until it had already started says that there is quite a bit of free speed to be gained. With increased fitness I think I can establish a really solid time.

One of my goals this year is to better all of my times on these segments. The following video is from back in the day when I rode with the Strada Cycling Team before the days of strava. This is from the Burger Shop to 260 segment. The Sawmill TT is in here but in the opposite direction, you'll see the interval training and the cool downs in between. I currently hold the record on this segment at around 23 mph (easily beatable now) I don't know how fast I was in the vid but the TT bike was always very fast.

Why I don't race anymore, and how I feed my competitive hunger

Races and other endurance events have become outrageously expensive in the last few years. It wasn't like they weren't always expensive but in the past those prices were a little easier to ignore. It was just me after all, and my only goal in life was to go to the Olympics and be the greatest cyclist ever.

My priorities have changed just a little as I've gotten married and started a family. Having two beautiful girls makes you realize what is really important and what is extra. Sure I'd be thrilled to stand a top an Olympic podium but it's not a priority. I thoroughly enjoy watching the Olympics almost every night with my family and sharing that experience together.

Having kids doesn't mean your not competitive, it just means you are less likely to understand the value in paying someone $100 to ride a public route and get a T-shirt. I can ride or run those routes for free on any other day and a nice T-shirt can be had for far less. Every time I see this level of entry fee I start to think of all the upgrades I could do to our bikes, or the things I could add to our fitness quiver. For perspective that is a new pair of running shoes for Celisse, or a Mavic 821 tubeless rim, or a pretty pricey helmet. These are all retail prices mind you. An internet, or back of the bike shop savvy used shopper could end up with much more. I just don't know how I can justify sacrificing long term tools for a 2 hour race.

Even $10 to $15 dollar races require serious consideration. For the family man athlete you must consider just how many pounds of bananas you are sacrificing at this local event. I recently saw bananas as low as 50 cents a pound! Going to that race could literally be costing you 15-30 pounds of mid priced produce! That's not counting if you have to drive to an event. There is still value in these events of course and I usually try to participate in my local runs because they help support things I care about. I even put on a $15 event in 2012, The Clay Springs Christmas Run. These races can be a ton of fun, but I consider each and everyone of them individually these days.

I'm still fiercely competitive though. I love to just get out and ride without the pressure of competition but I can't help myself when it comes to competing. To this day I have passed every random cyclists I ever came upon on the road and have never been passed myself. On a few occasions I even started a ride simply to catch a rider I saw going down the highway. Most of the time I rely on a couple of wonderful websites to keep me happy. The first is dailymile.com where I track all of my total mileage from running, hiking, biking and kayaking. Today I saw that one of my friends was one mile ahead of me in the yearly mileage standings so I made an extra ride just to beat them. Strava.com is the next site I use. I have my 5 year old Garmin GPS to track my speed, distance, and location as I ride along. People create segments on all the significant portions of riding areas and I love to compete for the fastest time. Having the fastest time on the local hill is much cooler to me than winning a race once.

I'm not a total loner. I love to ride with groups and exercise with other people I just prefer that it isn't sanctioned and charged. Plus riding with friends in a social setting is much more fun than riding with them in a competitive one.

Am I saying you shouldn't race? No, racing is fun and it does help to improve the sport, but so does buying
new parts. Regardless of how you look at it I'm simply sharing how I've come to see it. You may not have realized some of these things before. Maybe you were like me and didn't think you could afford good parts because you spent all your money on racing. I'll still do a big race from time to time I'm sure, but you won't see me justifying it very often. I'm pretty happy to just be able to ride everyday and continue to improve my own talent.