"Out of sorts"

[Smifffy]

I am...

Are you feeling back in sorts yet?

[slofox]

Are you feeling back in sorts yet?

Yeah - got me shit together again...

[Ocean1]

Yeah - got me shit together again...

Didn't happen to see mine lurking nearby while you were there did you?

[oldrider]

Since the big ride at New Year - in fact even before that come to think of it, I have been feeling "out of sorts" on the bike. Just not "there" if you know what I mean. Not really balanced, a bit tentative, just not right.

But then today, I picked the bike up from the shop after its 24k service and headed over to Raglan for a pootle and for some reason or other things sorted out. Body position settled down, weight felt planted, bike felt stable. By the time I was half way back I was ready to chase that Nissan Fairlady up the road...

I've had similar experiences with other things I have done - squash was one such. Some days you are unbeatable and other days you are useless. Same with the ballroom dancing, ('cept the off days there are always the partner's fault! )

I often wonder why this happens. Anyone else get that?

It's a testicle thing, bikes are like women, they don't like competition, they can tell if your spuds have been drained and they get in a huff if you have been with someone else!

As your hormones and blood get back into condition and your bike begins to feel the love and attention, everything starts to get back on track and you are as one again!

Three things that are sensitive to love, women, horses and motorcycles!

Proof enough that there is a God after all!

[slofox]

Didn't happen to see mine lurking nearby while you were there did you?

Nah - but I wondered what the stink was...

[Conquiztador]

FWIW:
Years ago when I was wanting to become proffs in a sport (sadly hard work is not enuf when you have no talent...) I kept a diary of what I did. I recorded sleeping, eating, mood, weather, who I was spending time with, exercise, and anything else I did. I then also recorded how I performed each day. The idea was to try to find a pattern, to learn what I did to feel on top of the world and also what made me perform poorly.

So what did I learn? That there was some things that made a difference:
- Enough sleep but not too much was vital for ablility to focus.
- Hard workout day before made me perform poorly the next day.
- Totally drunk day before was not good. But surprisingly a night with a few drinks sometimes made me better than a drink free one.
- Food never really made a difference. I think food will only work on long term basis and not the next day. Said that, no food day before was a recepie for lack of stamina.
- Issues and problems in life affected me and times when all was in place and I was happy tended to increase my focus and performance.

And the days when I did not want to perform were the worst. Nothing could make me focus properly. But I never really managed to figure out what was the reason for feeling so.

After approx 6 months of this I scrapped it all and just did my best. Sadly it was never enough to get to where I wanted to.

The sport? Soccer.

[slofox]

The sport? Soccer.

Did something similar when I played squash. Didn't work for me either...

[george formby]

I hopped on my humble velocipede on Monday to get a new tire & warrant. First ride in nearly 3 months. It was pants!

Riding to the shop I had zero connection to the bike, my surroundings, traffic, anything. Most disconcerting. Felt a bit better after riding through a lot of deep gravel due to major roadworks. Feeling the front sliding down the camber focuses the mind wonderfully.
Riding home with the new tire was only marginally more involving. The whole ride felt as if I was on autopilot. Not why I ride bike.
When the power goes out this weekend due to Cyclone Syphilis or some such i might go for a run & really (literally!) put the wind up myself, as it were.

Then again...