Thursday, January 10, 2008

Ride, train, neither, both??

Below is an excerpt from an article titled "Three Fitness Resolutions," written by Brad Cooper in the most recent issue of the weekly RoadBikeRider.com e-newsletter:

Don't ride, train! Are you riding on your bike, or training on your bike? Big difference. Select a handful of events -- actual races or perhaps century rides -- and get after it. You'll find that a training program makes cycling more interesting as well as more beneficial. And having specific goals gives you the motivation to be consistent in your training -- always a key to success.




I know what he is saying....ride your bike with a purpose, set goals, do specific riding to achieve specific results, etc. etc. I do all of that. But, I still feel uncomfortable saying that "I train," probably because I don't. I ride a lot, race a lot, ride with purpose, but I don't "train." At least I refuse to call it that. George Hincapie trains. I ride my bike. Using the word "training" makes it feel like cycling is a job. I already have one of those, and prefer to spend my free time on an enjoyable hobby, like riding.

4 comments:

Ray Huang said...

I love "training" and having most of my rides mapped out for me down to the minute and power or heart rate levels. Ive never viewed training as ruining the love of cycling. But then after some of that I need to ride without purpose, blow off steam or attack the Tuesday Club ride with every thing Ive got. The training brings success and it certainly makes the "rides" more enjoyable as well.

Love your blog-keep it up!!

ds said...

It's really all about semantics...training, riding, whatever you want to call it, as long as you're having fun doing it.

-Dave

Gary Burkholder said...

I need to ride more and train more...

JimmyNick said...

I need to ride more trains.