We all have them. Those days when the legs won't go round, or they run out after half the ride, or when something else just isn't right. Today Jon and I went out for a ride with Jon's friend G - the plan was for Jon and I to pre-ride the 100 mile Cotswold Spring Classic route, and for G to do the 100km - so we'd do an extra bit (well, 38 miles) at the end after dropping G back.
Well, today G had a bad day. Jon and I are slightly quicker but we were happy to ride slowly, but G just wasn't on it - dodgy stomach, nothing in the legs. We shepherded him back on a slightly shorter route taking things very easy. Then Jon and I went back out again and did another 45 miles - much faster, harder and with a couple of tricky climbs.
When you have a bad day there is the mental aspect to deal with - you don't want to hold others up, yet you don't want to be left behind. As you see others dance up the climbs when you are breathing through your eyeballs there is a slight feeling of wanting something bad to happen to them to get some respite. Nothing too bad - a snapped chain, bike/badger interface, thunderbolt.
When you are with someone having a bad day, you kind of feel for them. Kind of. You also wish they were just a bit faster, or put a bit more effort in, or had eaten better the day before. Niceness will always win out though, because you know that it's a fine line between feeling great on a bike and dying in a ditch.
Today wasn't my bad day, but it could have been.
1 comment:
There but for the grace of God....
We've all been there and you have to take the rough with the smooth! The highs with the lows.
Peer pressure sometimes works on the one having a bad day and they will try harder not to disappoint their colleagues but at the end of the day there is only so much you can do.
You just have to remember that on another day it may be you that suffers and support them through their torture.
On the other hand, some people react better to the drill sergeant approach, so next time just tell him not to be such a big girls blouse :-)
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