Fork in the road? Take it..

As Yogi Berra said, “When you get to a fork in the road, take it.” The great thing about the laid back Hall of Famer catcher of yore for the New York Yankees, is that when you think about his famous quotes, even though they’re worded funny, you can always tell what he means.
This fork in the road Yogism occurred to me the other day when I was torn between going on a ride, or not. It was a Sunday morning, and I had ridden a good ride the day before. I thought, hey maybe don’t ride today, rest up for the coming week.
While I’m thinking this over, I read a tweet of a guy lamenting the fact that because of circumstances beyond his control, he couldn’t go on a ride he had planned on.
I looked out the window. No wind, a little cloudy, hot weather predicted. It was 7:30 a.m. Still early enough to beat the heat for half the ride. So I knew this was the same kind of fork in the road as Yogi’s quote describes. I had to take it. Had to ride.
I forgot to bring electrolyte capsules, which is a pretty good idea for hot rides. My quads cramped over the last 18 miles, but I fought them off by drinking as much water as possible and shaking out my legs one at a time on descents.
It was a really hot ride over the 25 miles back, and both quads cramped up when I unclipped and stood to refill my water bottle. I rode on, and even beat my previous day’s time by three minutes.
So I had the chance to ride and almost didn't, even though I could, and even though conditions were very good. Sure glad I did.
Because like the tweet guy showed in his message, there will certainly be times when you’re planning on going on a ride and for whatever reason, something comes up and you can’t do it. So when you can, GO! Even if you’re tired, even if conditions aren’t great, maybe windy, maybe hot, maybe cold. Just do it.
And when you get back, even if it wasn’t the best ride you’ve done, or even if you had some tough stuff happen to you on the ride, you still got a ride in.
So if you have a chance to go on a ride, do it, even if you have doubts about it. Just put any doubts aside and ride. I’m betting almost every time you come to this cycling fork in the road, and take it, as Yogi Berra advises, you’ll be glad you did.

Mindset for wind: Energy conservation
I used to groan when I wanted to go on a ride and noticed the trees outside were swaying. Oh no, it’s windy. Sometimes I would refuse to go out on the bike because of the nagging drag of a lot of wind.
But after facing off with the wind on the bike many times, I’ve come to learn one thing: It’s a bad idea to burn too many matches fighting a headwind. Save energy. Ride within yourself, relax, with a comfortable cadence. You’re definitely not going to go as fast riding into a headwind, but with the right mindset and approach to pedaling, it won’t burn you out. You’ll actually enjoy the ride a lot more. And be less bummed out by windy conditions when starting future rides.
As we all know from riding in turbulent air, the wind giveth, and the wind taketh away.
A tailwind helps you ride faster with less effort. But crosswinds and headwinds as we all know, hold us back. They can make us burn a lot more energy to maintain a normal pace.
With a tailwind, I find a nice fast cadence in a medium gear. Then I can fly along at a nice pace without using much energy. It’s like a different form of drafting, getting pushed by the wind instead of having wind resistance reduced by drafting another rider. But the bottom line is the energy expended is kept nice and low riding with a tailwind, while still getting some speed on the bike.
But with headwinds and crosswinds I’ve learned one thing. It doesn’t pay to hump up and fight them with extended high gear riding. I’ve done that enough times to realize that I eventually hit the wall. And when I have to slow down to recover, the wind is still beating me back at full throttle. So when I slow down, the wind makes me really slow down! And then getting back up to some semblance of a pace while tired, is a grind and a half.
So I’ve developed a different mindset for riding against a headwind.
I pace myself, don’t gear up too high so that I’m burning up too much energy. I keep low and aero, and find a gear that gives me a nice consistent cadence without a lot of strain. It really takes away the stress of headwind riding. It lets me relax and forget about the headwind as an obstacle.
And with that strategy in my back pocket, it’s pretty hard to convince myself not to ride on windy days.

Future pelotoners
Last week I rode up to see a couple of kid riders on road bikes, they looked to be 10 to 12, and small on their bikes, getting paced on the trail by a man in a riding kit. I passed them, then both kids passed me while I was going about 19 mph. Whoah! Saw the guy speed up to catch them and pace them some more. It occurred to me that these little dudes are probably on track to try for the pro peloton in a few years. Looked like they’re already getting groomed for it. But when you think about the elite riding level of pros, it’s easy to forget that most of them started riding competitively at a young age. So if I ever see a six year old out on the trail sprinting at 20 mph on a road bike with a coach, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

Til next time, remember to strap on a helmet every time you get on the bike. Then, keep the rubber side down, ride safely, and have a blast.
-- Mark Eric Larson