"Take Kindly The Counsel of the Years"

"gracefully surrendering the things of youth"

If you were 16 years old in 1971 you would immediately recognize those two lines of "Desiderata".  Not because it was written then, but because it was put to music by a guy named Les Crane around that time, and it became a popular hit.  It was actually written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann.

And while you might not be as intimate with it as the average long haired freak from the seventies, I imagine that you have to be under 25, or over 75, to never have heard of it.

Regardless, it has been of note in our house for many years, as up until just a few months ago we had two copies of it hanging on our walls.  We're down to one now, but I still sometimes reference it to find some wisdom.  The part about getting old has always been one of my favourite bits, probably because it's something I aspire to, as well as something I need to work on.  

I was motivated to go look at it again today after I got back from my bike ride.  Primarily because the ride made me feel 'older' than I was a few years ago, older even than just last year!

For as long as I have been riding seriously, 30 kms/hr has been the benchmark.  No matter how long the ride, I do my best to stay close to that.  Of course I'm referring to riding my triathlon bike, not my mountain bike.

That's why it was relevant once again today, as the sudden glorious spring weather prompted me to get my sped machine out of the basement, and take it for a spin.

It felt nice!  Skinny tires, skinny saddle, skinny frame, all topped by not so skinny me.  I was a bit surprised actually how normal it felt.  Even though it is quite different than riding my mountain bike, I am certain that the last 2 months of the fat tire riding has helped me a lot.  My butt got a wee bit sore, as did my forearms and my shoulders, but all in all, not bad.

But! I rode 50 kms at an average speed of 28.5 kms/hr!!  That's no good!

For a relatively short ride, I admit to a little bit of disappointment.  I know, I know!  If 30 kms/hr was the standard 20 years ago, why should it still be so today?  

Because!  That's why!  

I have to add, that while that number was the lower threshold, I also frequently exceeded it.  Even my 2nd Ironman in 2012 was slightly better than that.

Alas,  I decided that I need to get over it, so I did a bit of research.  When I did my first IM 8 years ago I was in the 50-54 age group, and now I am part of the 60-64 club.  Just for the heck of it I compared those two groups in last years IM Mont Tremblant.  In the younger group there were 60 riders who rode faster than 30 kms hour, while in my current category there were exactly seven!!!  Holy Cow!

Not just that, the 10 year difference resulted in less than 1/5th of the actual finishers!!  (from 212 to 39)

I suddenly felt waaaay better!

While I'm still gonna always shoot for the magic 30 just because it's a nice number, and it results in a 6 hour IM ride, I think that 28 is a more reasonable number for any potential long rides, or even more so for any potential long distance triathlons.   After all, I guess I'm getting older.  I just ain't dead yet!  Game on!

...and while I know I'm supposed to listen to Max and Les, this feels more like me...

"Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light."---Dylan Thomas

Love

Peter