Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa

I guess this should have been expected at some point. That chink in the armor that can cause one to realize he is not the uber training machine he would like to be. So just what, brothers and sisters, has caused such great remorse? None other than the dreaded missed training day.

Looking back over my diary I have logged roughly 120 hours since my training began in December. This is less time on the saddle than a number of riders have this time of year, but it is a pretty decent number for me at this point in the season. Due to the terrible weather we have had this winter only approximately 20 of these hours were outside on the road. This means I have spent 100 hours on the trainer in my living room sweating away to videos of classic bike races from Europe, Australia and the good 'ole U.S. of A.

I have a video of Johan Museeuw's victory in the 2002 Paris Roubaix (which I've watched more than a few times this winter). During the commentary in this race Phil Liggett states that Museeuw would ride the trainer as many as 6 hours a day to help get himself in top form for the Spring Classics. Johan's dedication to training is especially impressive to anyone who has tried to log in more than a few hours on the trainer at any one time.

Anyway, back to today's missed training session. I could site a few excuses for missing my training tonight such as the 1 1/2 hours it took me to commute through snow to my out of town job this morning and the resulting delay in leaving work that caused me to arrive home at almost 8:00 pm. But in reality I was just mentally cooked and didn't have the energy to climb on the bike. This is the time of year when Spring is so close we can taste it and the desire to get out on the road is overwhelming. However, this is also the time of year when burnout can be a problem. Some nights I literally feel like that proverbial hamster on a wheel and 100% of my limited mental fortitude is required to crank out a few indoor trainer hours.

There is arguably some degree of obsessive compulsive tendencies required to pursue bike racing. Why else would someone spend hours and hours inside on the trainer and then fret over one missed training day? This mystery is probably best left to greater minds than mine to sort out. My time is better spent psyching myself up to get on the bike tomorrow and make up for the time I missed tonight. Besides I have a race to get ready for this weekend. Unless the race is cancelled again due to snow. Then I'll need to spend that day cranking out a few hours of intervals on the trainer...