It's what's in your heart, not your heart rate!

I've been involved in the sport of cycling for the past 28 years. What started out as rehabilitation for a dislocated shoulder, soon blossomed into my passion. I love riding my bike! I love the ritual, putting on my kit (cycle speak for that goofy spandex outfit cyclists wear!), Cleaning and performing maintenance on my bike, talking about riding and racing and the latest gear. Yep, I like it all. But lately I've started to get back to basics with my riding. These days, It seems like anyone who's anyone has to know all about power output, or wattage, lactate threshold, heart rate and the techno/science babble goes on and on. It just sort of pisses me off to the point that I roll my eyes whenever I see someone rolling down the road with a power meter on their ride. I was a pretty good amateur back in the day; in fact, I have dreams of becoming a damn good masters cyclist. But I digress, the thing is, I want to care less about the data, and more about what my body is telling me. I've done this sport for so long that I know when my seat is lowered or raised by a half millimeter.And hey, Sean Kelly never had a damn power meter! But he did have a lot of heart.  So for me, all I care about is throwing a leg over the top tube and just where the hell I want to ride today. I might look at my mileage and speed from time to time, but that is it.  

On another note, I am nursing a sacroiliac joint injury. If you're not familiar, the SI joint is where your hip connects to your spine at the S-1

The SI joint allows for torsional movement. Years of repetitive movement, yep, cycling, have made this joint kind of gimpy, and it will flare up from time to time. It sucks because the pain can be quite severe and the only thing that makes the injury better is rest.  One cool thing I figured out is my position on the bike has a huge effect on this joint.  As a lot of cyclists age, they will begin to move to a more upright position on the bike. This is usually because of lack of flexibility which prohibits a more aggressive position.  If your unfamiliar, picture a rider with a flat back and their handle bars bellow the level of his or her hips:

I figured out that what works for me is the opposite. Despite being 43 years of age, I am still rather flexible.  if I have my handle bars up to high, for some reason, it puts me at an angle that makes my SI joint pissed off. When I went for a ride today, i noticed the pain returning, so I lowered my bars back to their previous height. Presto, it was like magic; the pain subsided and me and my bike were back to dancing like Fred and Ginger!

I plan to ease back into my mileage and start to pile on the riding. I want to be fit and fast by spring,  Then it will be all about snapping necks and cashing checks! I will sign off for now. Be good to one another. Oh, and put some miles on your bike. If you don't own one, buy one!