The D class field that I am up against now has changed a lot since the first race that I rode 5 years ago. At that point there were maybe 25 people in each race and the average speed was around 36kph. If I was reasonably fit, I could keep up and I hoped that in time I'd be good enough to fight it out for a win every now and then.
These days the average speed is often over 40kph and the field has to be split into 2 groups because there are too many accidents with fields of up to 70 people. Whilst it is great that cycling has become more popular, I suspect that the change is related to the naming convention used for the classes. 5 Years ago we were called "Beginners", now we are the "D klass" so there is far less stigma involved in staying down in the lower ranks and the larger fields make it harder to earn enough points to be moved up the the C class.
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| Not me |
We I will carry on cycling for exercise and I think I'll do some mountain bike races again at some point but I want to turn my competitive spirit towards something else - sailing.
This weekend, someone has kindly offered to let me borrow a fairly new Finn at a sailing club near Copenhagen so I can experience what it is like sailing a boat less than 10 years old instead of my 30 year old one. I am also hoping that I can start the process of learning how to prepare and race a Finn because that is what I want to be doing next summer.
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| not me either! |
Excuses excuses.
ReplyDeletem
Yep, they are excuses.
ReplyDeleteI have a full time job at least 2 hours per day commuting and 2 small kids, i understand that it is borderline unnaceptable that I am not also able to ride 100km at 40kph. I did my best with the limited time I had but the continued high intensity interval training I was doing to try and get fit enough for racing put me off the sport all together.
Now I want to try something else.
As James Bond said, everyone needs a hobby!
Ben Ainslie not Wiggo, go for it,at least you don't have to wear the tights.
ReplyDeleteAnother benefit is that a cyclist always needs to weigh less than they do. The idea weight for sailing a Finn is about what I weigh now.
ReplyDeleteImpressed that you can manage to fit in a hobby at all in this kind of life with job, small kids etc. I'm still struggling to find a hobby/sport which can match my criteria of being fun (so not running), giving good shape in an effective and not time-consuming manner, to be done at all places and times of day, no dependence of others, not too complicated to learn (so nothing like sailing I guess)...
ReplyDeleteGood wind tomorrow :-)
K
TV & eating chocolate can be very satisfying & not weight dependent.
ReplyDeletem
Do dinghy sailors shave thier legs?
ReplyDelete