On The Road
by: Bill Oetinger 1/1/2001
New Year's Resolutions
If you side with the persnickety numbers crunchers, then this January 1st is the true beginning of the new millennium. On the other hand, if you agree with the media feeding frenzy of last year, then this is just another new year...one year down and 999 to go til we get to celebrate another millennial mania. In either case, it is undeniably the dawn of the New Year: 2001.
That being the case, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit that time-honored traditon, the New Year's Resolution. I have no idea when or where the notion of making resolutions on New Years gained such critical mass, but at this point, it's as much a part of the season as mistletoe, egg nog, and returning gifts. Very few of us can say with any confidence that we did the best we could have done with the previous 12 months. There's always room for improvement. So, as the new year comes around, we hitch up our metaphorical trousers and promise ourselves that we will do better this year. And if we're really bold (or foolish), we will make specific promises about certain things that are important to us.
If you've had cycling as a part of your life for very many years, you've probably had the urge from time to time to make a few cycling-related resolutions. I know I have. While cycling--all by itself--is not goal oriented, the activity is all tangled up with a long and noble history of sport and competition, and the grand accomplishments of past and present racers and ultramarathoners and record holders encourage almost all riders to strive toward "greatness." And with those little cyclometers on our bars to help us quantify our efforts, it's easy to manufacture goals for ourselves...targets to shoot at in the new year.
But many people let themselves in for feelings of disappointment or even guilt or failure when they "break" their resolutions. But the fault is not so much in failing to meet one's goals. The fault is in setting up unrealistic goals in the first place. The trick is to set goals for yourself that are attainable and not inherently failure-prone. Let me give you an example of a resolution that contains the seeds of failure in its very make-up.
Several years ago, I made a New Year's resoultion to ride "at least 500 miles each month" and to do "at least one century each month" for the entire year. At the time, I was riding about 700 miles a month, with some months over 1000 miles, plus I was knocking off a century every couple of weeks. The resolution seemed almost a fait accompli from the get-go...a slam dunk. And yet, by defining the terms of my goal so narrowly, I set up a sort of promisory house of cards, wherein, if I failed to meet the "at least" minimum in even one month, the whole edifice came tumbling down in failure.
Sure enough, I had one month when I didn't meet the 500-mile minimum. In that same month, I also failed to log any centuries. And it wasn't even some rained-out winter month. I think it was August. I forget why my miles were down. I was sick for a week. I took an extended backpacking trip. Whatever... Doesn't matter. It just happened. So, even though I ended the year with almost 9000 miles--an average of nearly 750 miles per month--and even though I logged several dozen rides of over 100 miles--way over one a month on average--according to the terms of my stated goals, I had failed.
Had I merely made it my goal to "average at least 500 miles a month," I would have finished the year with the sense of a job well done. But that broken resolution nagged at me and put a taint on an otherwise good year. It made me resolve to make smarter resolutions in the future.
Here's another fatally flawed resolution that I heard a friend of mine make: "Never having a crash." Ouch! Got any wood to knock on? Obviously, we all hope we won't crash in the coming year, and we all ride with whatever level of restraint works for us to see that it doesn't happen. But when crashes do happen, they're seldom the result solely of willful stupidity on our part. Reckless riding may contribute, but the overall cause is usually a complex soup of variables, most of which are beyond our control, and therefore beyond the scope of anything that can be mitigated by goal setting or resolutions. (Needless to say, that guy stacked it before the year was out.)
I'm not suggesting that specific goals are bad. Just make them about something that matters...and make it something you have a reasonable shot at accomplishing. If you want 2001 to be the year you do your first century or first double century, that's great. Gives you something to train for. Or perhaps you plan to ride across the country this summer. Or maybe you want to go USCF racing this year. By all means, set targets up on the horizon and go after them. Just don't set yourself up for failure with some pointless, artificial construct like "at least 500 miles a month," or with something totally beyond your control like "never having a crash." Also, don't set such lofty goals each year--year after year--that you end up in burn-out. It's great to be challenged, but if the challenges are so all-consuming that your tunnel vision compromises the balance of your life, then maybe it's time to stand back and regain your perspective.
If you don't want to set specific, quantifiable goals for yourself this year, but still want the fun of turning over a new leaf for the new year, allow me to offer a few warm-&-fuzzy resolutions for your consideration...
1. Resolve not to repay rudeness with rudeness. When you find yourself on the receiving end of some idiot driver's road rage, resist that urge to scream back and flip him the single-digit salute. All you'll be doing is getting yourself more upset and--worst of all--giving the jerk the satisfaction of knowing he successfully pushed your buttons. Instead, try a friendly wave in response to the rudeness. You'll calm down and get over it quicker, and the driver will be left unfulfilled because he won't have syphoned any energy off of you. (This applies only to those situations where there's nothing you can do to redress the wrong. If the situation warrants it, and if you can get a license number and have witnesses, etc., then by all means pursue whatever course of justice is available to you.)
2. Resolve to open up to someone new on a ride. If you're a regular on your local club rides, you probably hobnob with all your buddies at the start of the ride. Cyclists are no more elitist or clique-ish than anyone else, but it's only natural to gravitate to your old friends to yak. Often though, there is one new person standing off on the side, alone, unsure how to mingle with the gang. (This must have been you on some other ride, years ago.) If you notice that person, take the time to extend a hand and introduce yourself. Who knows? That stranger may end up being the best riding companion you've ever had, but if you don't reach out to them just once, they may become discouraged and move on to another club...or maybe even to another sport.
3. Resolve to give something back to cycling this year. In a word: volunteer. Unless you ride all by yourself, all of the time, you probably derive some benefit from the group dynamic in cycling. And almost 100% of that group energy is generated in one way or another through the efforts of volunteers. Whether your thing is centuries or doubles, crits or time trials, mountain bike races or club tours, they all depend on contributions from folks just like you who are giving up a day to help others have fun. Even the simplest Saturday club ride has a volunteer leader, and the club sponsoring the ride has volunteer officers who make sure the ride is covered by insurance, and that the ride is listed in a newsletter, and so on. If you're NOT doing anything to help at any of the events you do this year, imagine what it would be like if everyone else was NOT doing anything either: nada...zip...zero. No centuries. No races. No tours. Start your year with the promise to yourself, that this year you'll be a giver--just a little--and not just a taker.
4. Finally, resolve to have fun with your cycling this year. If it's not fun, why are you doing it? Remember, when you set your goals, that getting to them should be at least half the fun.
Bill can be reached at srccride@sonic.net