Rapha Racing NW

Swing Season: Party of One

Portland, OR; Late Feb/Early March

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad marks the beginning of the classics season.  In some places it also marks the start of spring.  This year’s race did not disappoint.  A bold commitment from Langeveld.  A gritty catch by Fletcha.  Hand to hand combat to the line.  They left it all on the road.  Even in the face of rain and grit, spring was in the dark, damp Gent air. 
 
Here in Portland it is a different story.  There is snow on the ground and an icy wind.  The weekend races have all been cancelled.  It is swing season — the middle ground between a time when you can blow the froth off a pint of IRA and hit the trainer with dignity and the sunnier days ahead when five hours will come civilized.
 
When I left the house this morning it was minus four degrees Celsius.  In homage to my friends in Austin (fat and crisp on queso and sun), a little brown liquor in the bottles kept the ice at bay.  Its not the Driskill bar but it sufficed.  With most people inside waiting for the sun there was no choice but to go it alone.  So I rode a bit, did three hours of tempo, and rode home.  Along the way I figured out that if I pushed 53 x 16 or bigger a different pain eclipsed the numbness in my finger tips- a godsend.   
 
Much of the joy in cycling happens with others.  Before or after the race, tempo with your strong men at the front, group rides, or knowing you were a small part of a larger success.  But the gateway to that is this: the solitary work.  As much as we identify with a nation, a group, a team, it is the solitude of cycling that develops our character and stands as a common denominator between us- preparing us for the together.     
 
I hear Flecha trains alone in the mountains, his strength borne from the harsh landscape of winter.  No Majorca or Canary Islands.  Langeveld is no doubt cut from similar cloth albeit a flatter, northern Dutch variety.  I have ridden his roads and, believe me, riding to school in those wintery winds is a performance enhancer.  Sebastian has his own backdrop for solitary suffering.
 
Reflecting on watching these men before I placed my own face to the wind this morning, there was warmth in the knowledge that we share at least a little in common.  At a minimum we all heal, build, and grow alone.  As a result we go harder when the ride gets tougher.  In the extreme wind, biting cold, driving rain we can excel- alone.  It will be good for the swing to turn to spring.  In the meantime, there is a silver lining (for Flecha and gold for Langeveld) in hitting the road no matter the conditions.  

—Thomas Cody, Rapha Racing NW