About the fear of being left behind in the peloton.
Text: Ruth Koops of ’t Jagt.
Tenerife Bike Festival
This story begins with a message from Sander: whether I will go to Cycling Destination in May Tenerife Bike Festival wants to. There is a wonderful program for everyone with a cycling heart. As a crowning touch, the Vuelta al Teide. Since I bought an old RIH with tubular brakes for twenty euros on Marktplaats when I was twenty, cycling has been my great love. Cycling is for me adventure, quiet time and inspiration. Cycling saved my life during mentally difficult periods. So I knew right away: this is what I want. YES, I WANT IT! But then I had to decide whether I wanted to cycle the whole (175 km, roughly 4400 hm) or the half (95 km, 2000 hm) Vuelta al Teide on the last day. And then that voice started to stir.
Read also:
- 5 tips for a cycling holiday in Tenerife
- Cycling adventure in Tenerife: this is why you should visit this island.
Not wanting to be the slowest
Now I am definitely not a couch potato. I am currently training for a Cross-Triathlon (1km swim, 35km MTB and 10km trailrun), have a very good VO2 max and feel fit and strong. Yet, when you go to bigger sporting events where the distances are longer and the intensity higher, something extraordinary happens. Even if you are in top shape and have trained seriously. Call it a kind of natural selection: the people who participate in this kind of event are often blessed with a huge reservoir of stamina. And that big reservoir is more of a modest bucket for me. That meant, for example, that when I participated in the Hondsrug Classic (75km on the MTB) a few years ago, we arrived at the finish line a few minutes after the time. The finish line had already been closed and we didn’t get a reminder. While we really weren’t the kind of people who were lazy.
You ride for yourself
So I have to say it to myself regularly: ‘Ruth, you’re cycling for yourself.’ But that’s sometimes quite difficult in a social environment where we’re beating each other to the point of exhaustion with ultra-distances, megalomaniacal averages, PRs and milestones. As if the value lies mainly in the speed. The performance compared to others. As if a ride is only worth something if you’ve beaten others, if you’ve gone very far or very fast. Or in my case: not finishing at all. After all, the beautiful platform of Laurens Ten Dam is called Live Slow, Ride Fast. So when I had to decide whether to cycle the half or the whole Vuelta on Teide during the Tenerife Bike Festival, my inner critic climbed onto the soapbox.
‘You’re not going for the half, are you?’
There stands the inner critic, she looks at me with a wink from the soapbox, while I have clicked halfway through the course in the fill field. 95 km and 2000 altitude meters, it seems to me that this is actually challenging enough. Moreover, I hope I will still have some space to enjoy along the way. To look around me, consciously feel the breeze on my bare arms and smell the scents of the island. But the inner critic disagrees: she calls me a weakling. ‘That’s how you choose the easy way, isn’t it?’ Fortunately, I can silence her this time. And my trainer also confirms that this distance is the best option. But she is insidious, that voice. Because she simply chooses another strategy: ‘You’re probably one of the slowest dunks anyway. Just hang on at the back.’
Great cycling adventures aren't just for the daredevils
So, in this case, I choose to climb that soapbox to firmly tell her off: Great cycling adventures are not just for the daredevils! In fact: if it doesn’t all go smoothly for you, if you’re stuck at the back, then you spend longer on the bike and have taken longer breaks than the first finishers. And importantly: you were able to enjoy it for longer. So let’s make sure that the field of participants gets wider and more diverse during the biggest cycling adventures (with or without a competitive element). That there is also room for the cyclists who might end up as one of the last ones to finish. I hope I can contribute a little to that. By going to the Tenerife Bike Festival as a not-so-talented cyclist, with all my heart I will try to be one of the last to finish. Vuelta al Teide To cycle and show that: Great cycling adventures are for everyone. Not just for the daredevils.
0 responses
Beautifully put!
It seems that in recent years cycling has become increasingly competitive. Who can cycle further, faster and more? I too cycle for my own reasons and for myself! Cycling is about experience, adventure and travel.
Beautifully put, Yiannos. It really is about finding the right balance. We support anyone who wants to ride a race bike or a gravel bike. Long – short – day, multi-day trips, you name it.