Day 22: Old dog, new tricks

Old Dog, New Tricks

Yesterday I finally got back on my bike to commute to work. I typically ride to work 10+ days every month, but due to a myriad of reasons, I hadn't been on my bike since Jan 2nd. I love riding my bike to work - it's often faster than driving, I get some solid alone/thinking time, and I find that I start my work day off on the right foot more often than not. Many a morning has seen my mood improve dramatically after my ride into work.... plus it justifies my love of all things bacon-y.

As I rode in yesterday, it occurred to me just how much I had missed riding my bike. And how my legs felt after riding... which was: surprisingly good... Why am I surprised? I'm a pretty experienced rider, the legs should remember how to ride, right?

I have been a cyclist since I got my first road bike for my 14th birthday (14 speeds! wow! cool!). Some years I rode a lot, some years not much at all. But I would say that I averaged from 2,000km to 5,000km most of my adult years, with some peak racing years up near 10,000km. For 20 years, that's a minimum of 40,000km but in reality I've probably logged closer to 75,000km, maybe even more...

That's a lot of time in the saddle. At ~20kph, that's... close to 4000 hours of riding.

But is it? Is it really? 

I would suggest it is NOT a lot of riding. Imagine a pro cyclist - they ride 6-7 days a week, often logging hundreds of kilometers each ride. Let's say they ride 25 hours a week - probably not a stretch for some top end riders. With 2 weeks vacation in there, that's 50 weeks/yr x 25hr/week = 1250hr/yr. Now let them ride for only 10 years, and they have cracked 12,500hrs.

Why am I telling you this? Because to be very good at a particular skill it takes a significant investment of TIME. A common number thrown around is 10,000 hrs to master a task. Genetics, aptitude, motivation can all help take a bite out of that number, but it's small - more like a nibble.

I recently took up a new sport: speed skating. Yes, speed skating. I have been wanting to do this sport forever so when running was reduced (hip injury, long story, yadda yadda yadda) I had to find another outlet. I was taking my daughter to her karate class, and decided to go into the ice rink to change for a short run on the high school track nearby. Inside, lo and behold, were the Burnaby Haida Speed Skating club members, just starting their season, and a big fat "Come join us!" sign.

Well. Seems to me that sign showed up exactly at the right time and place in my life, heck, who am I to ignore destiny...

So I have been skating now since early October, and I thought I was doing pretty well. It's an incredibly technical sport - you face a large penalty for poor form - but when it clicks, it's fantastic! 

I enjoy racing - it's part of what I have been doing forever so I get a lot of satisfaction from the process of racing. As I begin thinking about speed skating racing (my first race is on Feb 22nd!), I have been thinking about how many hours I have actually put in on learning this new skill. In all honesty, it is no more than 30 hours. 

30 hours?!? And you want to race?!?

Well, shucks, why not. I won't be great, I won't be fast, but it will be fun and I will learn a lot from the experience.

Some times we need to be pushed out of our comfort zone to truly make improvements. So I will begin with speed skating.

AMac