24 hour of Adrenalin Podium Acceptance Speech

I bike.

It’s part of how I define myself. It serves me in so many ways. It gives me time away, it keeps me fit, it provides my mother-in-law Christmas gift ideas.

Part of my cycling involves racing. It started with the 24 hours of Adrenalin and from there has expanded to other endurance events, XC racing (Alberta Cup, Canada Cup), road racing and this season cyclo-cross.

I find that racing can create a false importance around my cycling. Especially in the past two season coinciding with a few decent results.

Am I being responsible to my family, or has my hobby brought my life out of balance?  

I think this is a question that many parents of my generation struggle with. I know my riding is not always fair to my wife, but I like to think that overall I have found a balance between my hobby and my responsibilities.

My wife sums it up best when she often explains my cycling by saying ….

“I wouldn’t want to be married to you without cycling”.

I think she means that I wouldn’t be the same man without cycling. I wouldn’t be as patient with our children, I wouldn’t have the same energy, I would probably be over weight… passionless… miserable.  

I do however, from time to time, ride too much and become unbalanced. The false importance of racing overtakes my consideration for family. When I do get out of balance an interesting thing happens.

I start to have a reoccurring daydream while I ride. I imagine being at a big race and winning. I picture myself standing on the podium. The race organizer offers me the microphone to say a few words and I give a teary-eyed podium acceptance speech thanking my wife and the “sacrifices made by my family to allow me to be here” I usually go on about the amount of time away and all the extra responsibility my wife accepts.

I know that when guilt dominates the tone of my daydreamed race winning podium acceptance speech it’s time to take a break from the bike.  Now that I can recognize when I’m out of balance the only question is can I make the responsible decision.