Submission
July 19th, 2010I just finished riding the Breckenridge 100 Mile Mountain Bike Race on Saturday. I managed to place fourth in the Single Speed category, for I which I won a burrito!
It hurt. It really hurt. It gave me a whole new perspective on suffering and how to get through it. I guess I would call this type of suffering just masochism. It’s not real suffering, which is what people experience from unfortunate circumstances beyond their control or choice. No, suffering from doing a bike ride (or mountain climb) that I’m freely willing to stop doing at any time is just plain masochism. That’s fine with me. You can call it whatever you like.
But anyway, the interesting thing about suffering during a long mountain bike race is that the level of pain is relatively high (I chose to ride a single speed bike to make the experience even more acute!), and the duration of time that you experience it is even longer. On a long alpine climb, for example, there are moments of severe pain that can be short lasted, and there is the longer lasting, but lower level pain and soreness you get from just being out in inhospitable conditions of the high, alpine environment. The duration is longer, but in some ways easier to take as it’s generally a lower level of pain spread out over a longer time period .
I think one way to look at the level of suffering for a given activity would be some sort of “Pain Index.”
Pain Index = Level of Pain X Duration of Pain
The level of pain is, obviously, quite subjective (1-10?), the the duration is pretty easy to nail down. Then, you can also figure in the number of types of pain (i.e. muscle soreness, specific joints, head ache, tired/low energy, etc) so Pain Index might look something like this:
Pain Index = SUM (Level of Pain((a, b, c, etc.)) X duration of Pain)
So if you’ve got a sore back of Pain level 3 for 4 hours and tired legs at pain level 6 for 5 and hurting feet at pain level 7 for 2 you get a whole different Pain Index than just painful fingers at level 9 for 10 minutes.
Of course the Pain Index is just part of the challenge. No matter what type of masochism you are undertaking, it eventually, it ends. It is finite. It’s just a matter of tolerating the discomfort for a given period and sustaining some level of physical output to complete said activity.
The “digging a little deeper” part of doing something hard really just comes down to telling yourself ”this hurts right now, but eventually it will end.” This weekend’s mountain bike race gave me a new perspective on how long I can tolerate certain moderately high levels of pain. It was hard for me, more than I expected it to be, but at the same time, it was a GIFT!
Oh yeah, the race was fun, too. BTW, if you want to see the “data” on my pain, here’s a link to my training log for the day:
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/2ZTTQPXGMFXDLH2RNBEG3EMANA
Now, it’s back to climbing for a while (except for one more bike race next weekend
!)
Well done! I like the analysis. Looks like one hell of a fun ride!
Do you always ride a single speed? Is there any advantage or is it purely for more pain?
V: “more pain?” not exactly. It’s more of a stylistic/ aesthetic choice. So, I guess for me, it has that advantage. It’s kind of like “what type of under garments do you like on your girlfriend?” I like the simplicity and elegance of the thong, even though it may be less comfortable (for her).
Well done sir! As a former road time trial specialist, student of southern style Chinese martial arts, and current alpinist wannabe, I’ve come to recognize a common element in my chosen pursuits: a lot of self-imposed suffering. Can’t say I ever rode 100 miles on a singe-speed mountain bike though. That sounds like *real* “fun!”
bravo sir……..<3 the positive energy in u.
looks like u had FuN…loadz of fun.i can understand how it must have felt!!
i hope i too get the courage 1 day to do wat ye hav done….CHEERS sir:):)
by the way sir-the way u have written ur story explains it all…..;)