To state the obvious: everyone is different. But if you ever want to know how different you are from someone else, try riding a tandem with them for awhile.
Now, it’s true… Scott and I are extremely similar. We have similar body language, verbal language, we get the same references, we laugh at the same stupid things. We’ve known each other so long we’ve developed our own dialect, a taste of which is coming out in this blog.
But. We’re at a point where we’re seeing our differences now. They are (mostly) subtle, but some are pretty fundamental. And we’re having to work through them.
One of these comes out in our separate styles of bicycling. Honestly, we’re not worlds apart in how we view the act of moving a metal object through space… but it’s the little things that are interesting.
Scott, after so much riding in extreme and arduous situations, is a supremely efficient rider. He knows the mechanics of the bike and he knows his own abilities to ride. He knows exactly when he wants to shift, he knows exactly when he wants to coast, he knows exactly how far to look ahead. I appreciate every single bit of his expertise and respect it immensely.
Whereas he is Mr. Total Efficiency, I think I’m realizing my own personal style is more “get ‘er done or die trying.” Which is to say, not supremely efficient (but a lot of heart… and whining… and fatigue.) I’m not in any way saying my way is better, because it isn’t. But… up to now, my way has not been pushed around too much, so I’m not used to being challenged and rethinking my entire style.
As a friend of mine said about Scott: “He’s such a nice guy, but on the bike he’s all business.” Exactly. Me, I think I’m kind of an 80/20 rider… meaning I’m happy with 80% success and don’t stress a lot about the rough edges.
He’s all business on the bike, but I kind of have a broader scope of interests going on when I’m riding in a group. I love love love my fellow riders. I love standing in long lines at rest stops and meeting new people. I love the random conversations that instantly go to the places that really matter: love, death, joy, pain. I love all that and drink it in as much as I inhale the sea air as we ride along the coast, or relish the drips of dew from the redwoods overhead. I love all that… and I love the bike riding part as well. But I’m starting to wonder if my social flitting is going to clash with Mr Business on the Bike.
Here’s an example:
We’re coming to the top of a hill. He’s the captain so generally tells me when to shift. I’m the shifter so I shift as instructed. (As one of my former writing collaborators once said to me about our working dynamic: he’s the brains and I’m the fingers—a sentiment that didn’t go over very well back then and has not gotten more palatable since.)
So, we’re nearing the top of the hill, in a low gear to make it easier to climb, and my instinct is always to shift to a higher gear right as we’re nearing the crest, like maybe five yards before the crest. And I usually say “now?” and Scott invariably says “not yet.” He waits until we’ve crested the climb and picked up a little speed and then he approves the shift to a higher gear. It’s smooth, it’s totally right, and yet it always seems too late for me.
Why? Because, I think, I’m always trying to push myself a little bit harder. Like those few extra feet will help develop my muscles just a little bit more and it’s good training to hurt a little bit more.
Makes sense to me, but dead wrong. If you’re riding 80, 100, 200 miles in one stretch, you want your muscles to be as happy and long-lived as possible. You just do. Even if you are doing 10 miles, what’s actually the point in, you know, hurting more than strictly necessary?
And there we get into lifestyle. Scott is focused, deeply detailed, goes down into the DNA of things. Read his Pony Express book and you’ll see what I mean. He once sent me a puzzle book when I was sick that was filled with such arcane and byzantine clues I couldn’t solve ONE SINGLE WORD. But Scott loves that shit. He has patience.
So, apparently, I do not. Again, I’m kind of 80/20 ish. I have a lot more stuff going on in my life than Scott does (he calls this “lack of focus” and I call it “catching up”), and I think that’s just who I am. I push myself up over those hills a little harder than I need to, and I suffer the consequences down the line.
Different pedal strokes. Different lifestyle approaches. Somehow we’ve gotta find a good middle ground and get through this thing.
