This bike seemed oddly evocative of my mental state this morning. It's a balmy 52 degrees and everything is coated with a slick of water- half dirty slushy snowmelt, and half condensation on every surface that's been frozen for weeks. Despite the warmth, I didn't ride today. Partly because it's supposed to rain buckets this afternoon and partly because I just didn't have the energy. Not physical energy, but the mental toughness needed to deal with riding in traffic.
I wish I didn't feel like riding my bike was like going into battle. It would be nice not to feel like I had to be contantly vigilant to avoid getting hit by someone on their cellphone or just not paying attention. I wish I didn't have to ride in the middle of the lane and piss massholes off in order to keep them from buzzing me. I wish I wish I wish.....
Just couldn't face it today.
ah it's ok... you don't want to force yourself to a point that you come to resent riding. Take a day... it's supposed to be dry the rest of the week!
ReplyDeletei was in the same boat today... didn't feel like dealing with the predicted heavy rains and the inevitable bad driving that comes with it. i totally wimped out and bummed a ride with my wife after dropping my daughter off at school!
ReplyDeleteYou're smart not to push it. I always try to remember that I want cycling to stay fun. When I start thinking of an activity as something I "should" do, it's a matter of time until I quit it. So, I give myself permission to not ride -- and not feel guilty about it.
ReplyDeleteAmen! It's a strength to know when to call it off for the day.
ReplyDeleteIt's January. Take extra days off the bike. The Puritans aren't running things in Mass any more.
ReplyDeleteThat happens to me once in a while also. It's one thing to ride when it's nasty, but it's another thing altogether to ride in traffic when it's nasty.
ReplyDeleteLooking at the predictions for weather later in the day is always frustrating to me. Should I ride or not? More often than not, I take the conservative route during the winter when getting wet automatically means "cold and wet".
Don't feel bad!
I know how you feel. I was in tears after I got home on Friday and settled down. I was yelled at and passed aggressively and stupidly for no other reason than I was on a bike and then in my neighborhood a guy passed me within inches. When I passed him further up the street (he was stuck at a red light) he looked at me with such utter contempt and superiority, like he had "got me" it was disturbing. At least I had the weekend to shake it off. Sometimes you just do need a mental break.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous-
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your bad experiences :(
I had some tough experiences over the weekend which could have been part of the problem on Monday, including one similar where a guy was glaring at me while he passed close and fast on Sunday biking around Cambridge, and did some rough biking on some ugly arterial streets in East Somerville on Saturday, so maybe I just needed some time to recover a bit.
Tracy W- back when I was marathoning, I used to say, I'll do dark and cold, dark and wet, and even wet and cold, but I draw the line at dark, wet AND cold. I think I should make that a policy for biking too.
The rain and wind were absolutely awful on Monday and I didn't ride either. It does make me feel better that even a super-experienced cyclist such as yourself gets overwhelmed cycling in the city once in a while!
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you. There have been times I've driven my car ridiculously short distances in good weather simply because I didn't have the mental strength to deal with abuse.
ReplyDeleteAround here, incivility seems to come in bouts. I'll go weeks in peace with remarkably positive interactions — maybe an occasional, easily-ignored honk — then I'll get a barrage of abuse for several days. Is it in the air? The phase of the moon? What? It's very discouraging. I'll hit a point where I can't risk subjecting myself to it.
No one should have to endure abuse to travel on public roads.