Posted by
Jim K.
Crashing your bicycle is painful. Aside from the physical pain, the deepest wounds associated with a severe bicycle crash may be the insecurity and fear of actually riding again. The scars resulting from a bad crash are deeply mental and prevent some riders from ever regaining their form.
Having suffered two bad crashes 14 months apart in 2004 and again in 2005, my concern over my constant encouragement to have my students experience more challenging levels of bicycle riding began to weigh on me.
To not encourage someone to live an athletic life and accept new challenges is to not be true to my beliefs. There are inherent dangers in cycling that I feel are far out-weighed by the joy of riding a bicycle on the open road or in the mountains. My students are going to crash. I accept that. There are ways to train to prepare for crashes but that is not the subject of this post. The essence of the recovery from a crash is what I want to talk about.
The recovery process must have an effect on one’s perspective and subsequent training, otherwise the crash was nothing more than a bad experience. My vision as an athlete used to be always on the future, to what I was going to do next. Life at times became a non-stop event for me requiring non-stop training.
Recovery necessitated by injury provided me the opportunity to look at how my training has lacked over the years. Using my recovery time to develop myself in new ways that I might not have done otherwise has been an unexpected benefit. What is odd is that I always knew that recovery is an integral part of training. Finally having time to focus on healing myself completely has taught me new techniques I would never have learned if I wasn’t injured. What is exciting is that these lessons can be applied to enhance my day-to-day recovery from regular training as well.
What is obvious to me now is that my constant drive to become stronger and faster kept me from learning lessons prior to being injured. While I do not recommend crashing to learn about recovery, slowing forward momentum and taking steps to regain balance and study various methods of recovery can be very advantageous. What my training has been lacking are extended periods of recovery where my focus is on complete restoration when I am NOT injured. This is not simply time off. This is time spent in deep stillness and quiet where I can become more consciously aware of my day-to-day moments. My coach always tells me "no clumsiness on or OFF the bike." His message is to me is to be conscious in every moment of my life.
Everyone in my training circle will now be encouraged to bring this concept into their yearly training plans. Scheduled periods of intense recovery practice where the time alotted to training is used in different ways. It will be a combination of added rest, meditation and different physical and nutrition practices. It will be time they spend balancing their lives to better support their training whether it be with their family or work. Most importantly it will be about being present and still and not thinking about the past or looking forward to the next race.
Crashes Are Interesting
Posted by Jim K.
Crashing your bicycle is painful. Aside from the physical pain, the deepest wounds associated with a severe bicycle crash may be the insecurity and fear of actually riding again. The scars resulting from a bad crash are deeply mental and prevent some riders from ever regaining their form. Having suffered two bad crashes 14 months apart in 2004 and again in 2005, my concern over my constant encouragement to have my students experience more challenging levels of bicycle riding began to weigh on me. To not encourage someone to live an athletic life and accept new challenges is to not be true to my beliefs. There are inherent dangers in cycling that I feel are far out-weighed by the joy of riding a bicycle on the open road or in the mountains. My students are going to crash. I accept that. There are ways to train to prepare for crashes but that is not the subject of this post. The essence of the recovery from a crash is what I want to talk about. The recovery process must have an effect on one’s perspective and subsequent training, otherwise the crash was nothing more than a bad experience. My vision as an athlete used to be always on the future, to what I was going to do next. Life at times became a non-stop event for me requiring non-stop training. Recovery necessitated by injury provided me the opportunity to look at how my training has lacked over the years. Using my recovery time to develop myself in new ways that I might not have done otherwise has been an unexpected benefit. What is odd is that I always knew that recovery is an integral part of training. Finally having time to focus on healing myself completely has taught me new techniques I would never have learned if I wasn’t injured. What is exciting is that these lessons can be applied to enhance my day-to-day recovery from regular training as well. What is obvious to me now is that my constant drive to become stronger and faster kept me from learning lessons prior to being injured. While I do not recommend crashing to learn about recovery, slowing forward momentum and taking steps to regain balance and study various methods of recovery can be very advantageous. What my training has been lacking are extended periods of recovery where my focus is on complete restoration when I am NOT injured. This is not simply time off. This is time spent in deep stillness and quiet where I can become more consciously aware of my day-to-day moments. My coach always tells me "no clumsiness on or OFF the bike." His message is to me is to be conscious in every moment of my life. Everyone in my training circle will now be encouraged to bring this concept into their yearly training plans. Scheduled periods of intense recovery practice where the time alotted to training is used in different ways. It will be a combination of added rest, meditation and different physical and nutrition practices. It will be time they spend balancing their lives to better support their training whether it be with their family or work. Most importantly it will be about being present and still and not thinking about the past or looking forward to the next race.