When is enough, enough?
Growing up, you would always hear stories of old riders and their legacies. To be honest, at 17 you have no idea if they’re talking about an ex-world champ or some guy who just used to pull massive turns on the chaingang. They all had wild names like ‘the Badger’ or ‘the Staffordshire engine’ and then there were the strange and largely irrelevant facts about how many eggs they used to put in their omelettes, and what gear they would train in.
But it makes you think about what you want to achieve in your own ‘career’ – I’m not sure I’m really at a high enough level to call my hobby experiences a ‘career’. I did have a relatively ambitious list of goals that I have ticked off. None were as unattainable as riding the Tour de France or winning the Worlds. More like, win a UCI 2.2 and appear on Pro Cycling Stats. And I still do have time to keep achieving. Before the new young sensations appeared on the Worldtour scene, cycling was a mature athlete’s game. The average age to turn ‘pro’ used to be 27, and from quizzing older more successful team-mates, I was told early 30s were the years they performed their best.
However, as I have closed in on the big three-zero, my various jobs have got more serious. My stress levels have gone up. While I’m in a very fortunate position given the current climate to have these work options, it’s giving me less emotional energy per day to commit to cycling. However, all my remaining goals probably require more energy than ever before, not less. I spent almost the full winter abroad trying to maximise my training. But as I came back to a nonexistent race calendar, and work picking up, I seemed to be cycling on empty. I still hope to turn it around this season to one big goal that happens annually in September. It just makes you wonder when you should draw a line under it.
“I seemed to be cycling on empty”