Cycling weenies!

Well, it looks like I’ve gone ahead and done it, confirmed what many of us have suspected for a long time: bicycle racers are total weenies! We're just a bunch of no-body-fat, no-upper-body-strength, no-hand-eye-coordination, weaklings. Sure, I can compete in week-long stage races, through heat and humidity, covering hundreds of miles, and climbing tens of thousands of vertical feet. But if spend one afternoon walking around a city, or taking a small hike, I’m so sore the next day, I practically need a wheelchair. I’m not talking about a strenuous effort here….I’m referring to an average day of tourism – something my grandmother could easily handle with no repercussions at all. I mean, it’s cool to be able to crank out enough watts on the bike to power a 60 inch plasma screen, but if playing basketball for a half-hour nearly gives me a hernia, I begin to wonder if all this specialization is worth it.

Early in the season, I was in the best all-round shape of my life. Between the strength conditioning in the weight room, the stretching and the yoga, the cross training on the ergometer or the elliptical trainer, the laps in the pool – I was an all-round athlete. Slowly, as the racing picked up, and the season wore on, I shed those cross-disciplinary activities like the pedals of a rose. By now, I’m frighteningly specialized: a one trick pony, a cycling weenie.

Thank goodness the season is over, so I can correct this trend. Excuse me, while I go fly my power kite on the beach. Let's hope I don't pull a muscle.