"Sunday morning...April 4th. Shot rings out in a Memphis sky..." Well, not exactly but it was close. It was April when I found my new distraction...Kettlebells.
Now unsuccessful cycle racing can be like childbirth to a woman...you forget the pain after a while and try again. As Billy Connolly put it "If I s**t a melon I'd...never...f***ing...forget it". I'd been cycling for years...on and off. I'd start and it'd feel tough initially. I'd train and train and it'd get easier. I'd race and eventually get up there with the contenders but how do you beat them? You train harder. Then how do you beat the guys whos level you've got to? You'd train harder. Then how...you know where this is going. There comes a time when you think to yourself "This is just plain stupid". It's a sport that takes 100% comitment but with a family you can't give that unless you have a natural ability. I didn't.
Now unsuccessful cycle racing can be like childbirth to a woman...you forget the pain after a while and try again. As Billy Connolly put it "If I s**t a melon I'd...never...f***ing...forget it". I'd been cycling for years...on and off. I'd start and it'd feel tough initially. I'd train and train and it'd get easier. I'd race and eventually get up there with the contenders but how do you beat them? You train harder. Then how do you beat the guys whos level you've got to? You'd train harder. Then how...you know where this is going. There comes a time when you think to yourself "This is just plain stupid". It's a sport that takes 100% comitment but with a family you can't give that unless you have a natural ability. I didn't.
Then you spit the dummy and say enough is enough. I did...several times. But you forget what it took. You forget the commitment, the hardship, the long miles, the pain...I can feel a contraction coming on. But you do it. In 2010 I tried for a baby again and threw my leg over (the bike). I won too thanks to sound and genuine handicaps by the kind people of Slaney Cycling Club. But how do I beat the scratch group...I train har...another contraction. I started in October 2010 on my winter training plan that would see me excel in March 2011. 2 weeks in, 1 hour of hardship on rollers, a sinus infection and I said enough was enough. For good. I was over 14st. I was 41-almost. I didn't want to spend the winter starving to reduce weight...it was all another phantom pregnancy of sorts.
Fast forward to April 2011. Disillusioned with the sport that I couldn't effectively contest I watched Sunday morning TV instead of 5 hours on the bike in the cold and wet. Shopping channels can be fun but I saw an advertisement for Kettleworx. Hmmm...that looked like fun...if you peeled away the Americanisation of the businessman with no time, the mother with no time, the gay-like fitness instructor who doesn't sweat. Funnily enough that same week a photograph on the local paper showed 3 folks of Total Fitness Systems being invited to Russia to compete in Kettlebell competition. And that was that. I'd found my new vice and I was ovulating at the thoughts of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment