By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.
~Robert Frost
for those of you that don't know, I'm a small business. me and myself. owner, operator, designer, manufacturing, sales, IT, logistics, accounting (poorly).
this makes life exciting and rewarding and busy. I enjoy what I do, and enjoy sharing it. but no matter how much you like your job, or your work, it will make you tired. and being tired doesn't lend well to doing more tiring things. sometimes, rather than consider a ride or race, I welcome the soft embrace of mindless Netflix watching like a baby latches onto a pacifier. downtime. I can has.
working for yourself can mean great flexibility in all things, from scheduling to location to appearance at work (5 days of the same pair of pants, covered in sawdust). some days you might work 4 hours, some 22. more often than not, it's in between, doing 8-10 hours at the shop or site and a few hours of computer work at home. I find it means you work more than you would on another person's schedule, mostly because you like it. it also means finding time to ride can be hard to muster when you're crunching deadlines or burning the midnight oil. that fatigue alone makes it hard to be motivated to get back on the saddle. it would be harder, I think, if I didn't have to ride a bike to do my work.
I don't commute for 40 minutes in one direction, nor have consistent route, but (I like to pretend) the boon to my CX training is the constant variation. the daily ride is a cargo track bike, the KHS Flite 100 t/rack with a custom Vallie Components front rack and a Burly Cargo trailer for heavier loads. it keeps me healthy. or strained. but they feel similar, I think.
changing job sites for woodwork installations, and varied dog walking schedules (Bison and Bear need love too) keep me running to and from my house and wood shop in various directions every day. HTFU is the mantra, as 15 minutes is the desired commute time so that an hour lunch break has 30 minutes of dogwalking/eating before the next 15 minutes back to work. I rest on days that Chessa is anywhere near the house to walk the dogs, as her commute from UBC would be much more irritating than mine.
more than an hour a day of commuting, however, doesn't hold a candle to actual riding, and I need to find more balance. hauling lumber is great strength training, but doesn't hone my skills or endurance. any time on the bike is a blessing, albeit in disguise at times, and sometimes I just need to relish the freedom and opportunity.
we are entering the final training month for CX before the racing begins. the weekend riding has been fairly consistent and long (another 150km ride this past Sunday with Mighty was great). weekday CX rides are going to pick up and hopefully I'll get in some trails to refine my twisty turns.
OK. into the wild we go.
