Erling and the Bike

This isn’t easy for me to admit, in fact it’s kind of embarrassing to say, especially in a forum like this. But Kelly wants honesty, so here it is: I don’t like bicycling.

Everyone loves biking. It may be the one sport that the most people do most of their lives. It can be recreation, competition, transportation artistic expression, exploration. It’s green, it’s healthy and it’s relatively inexpensive when compared to say, a car.

I have a great deal of respect for cycling as a sport, I even enjoy watching the Tour and the Olympic races.

It’s just not for me.

I thought I could ride the dislike away, just keep at it until it took. “Fake it until you make it,” as I have heard people say. But with each training session the discomfort grows stronger.

The two main problem areas are my back and my brain. The back isn’t too hard to decode, I  am just one of millions who have back pain. I always have, ever since I can remember. But the real hang-up is psychological.

I was hit by a car while riding eight years ago. I had the right of way, down a city street, and some knucklehead just T-boned me. I rolled up the hood. There were no major lasting physical injuries, but ever since that day I haven’t really been comfortable on the bike. Which is a shame, because at it’s best, there is nothing like the calm rush of summer whirring by as you peddle through a tree-lined country road….

Final Thoughts:

Good luck to all you riders this weekend, here are my top picks for cycling films to get you amped up.

1. Slaying the Badger, ESPN 30 for 30— As with most of the 30 for 30s, this is a solid feat of documentary film story telling in the service of sports. Original American cycling hero Greg LeMond as teammate, and adversary, of French legend Bernard Hinault.