Usually when I type out my training logs, I like to add more than just facts and figures about my daily sojourns towards the archipelago of athletic awesomeness (careful readers of the log this year will notice that I haven’t mentioned any actual training facts to figures in this space, mostly because I just have a Garmin unit and those numbers can be a bit un-compelling, but just wait until I get desperate for content, then you will be buried in average mph data!), I also like to unearth the spiritual side of these rides into the North Jersey countryside.

And then I think to myself, "Well, that’s absolute crap."

This is the duality of my thinking about bikes in a nutshell, one side of me trends towards describing every ride as e-word (I refuse to use the word "ep!c to describe any bike-related activities, as that word has been forcibly humped into the ground by certain companies—I’m looking at you, Ralpha), and then the other side of me wants to dismiss any sort of spiritual feelings that pedaling a bike in the open air conjures, because it’s only pedaling after all.

It’s undeniable that pedaling a bike awakens an abundance of emotions and complex chemical reactions in the body, but I think that it’s easy to confuse the byproduct of the break dance of these compounds for an actual spiritual experience. Yes, I’ve had wonderful moments on my bike, but many of these could’ve happened if I were walking or enjoying a jaunt on a StreetStrider™ (ok, that’s a hyperbole, no one enjoys anything done on a StreetStrider™). It also makes it easier to justify the hours and hours spent away from non-bike family and friends if you can come home and tell people that you had a spiritual experience while traipsing around in public with only a scant millimeter or two of body-hugging lycra between you and an indecency summons.

I think I’m over-thinking things. This is what I do. It would be simple to just "shut up and ride" I suppose, but that would leave us with nothing to type about all winter, and we can’t have that can we? I suppose how we categorize our time plopped on our piles of carbon, rubber and woven unicorn mane (I’m testing a prototype) is personal choice—one person’s e-word ride is another’s muffin run, and both are equally justified. Maybe how you choose to see your rides tells more about you than it does about the act of riding itself. Because it’s only bikes, after all.

Fondo News

It’s quiet times as far as the Dubuque Gran Fondo is concerned. I’m preparing the paperwork to get permit to have the event, and the event permit is normally used for stationary events that don’t travel all over everywhere. So it’s challenging. Just like every step in this process. Nevertheless, the fondo continues to keep me awake at night and the event’s logistics cloud my every step with apprehension, so you know, it’s all good.

Roman’s Beer Corner

This week’s beer was co-selected by Mike H, and it comes right on the tail end of the pumpkin beer season. It’s the Oak Jacked Imperial Pumpkin from Uinta Brewing Company. It weighs in at a mere 10.31% ABV, so it’s an all day drink (if your day lasts around 45 minutes).