There comes a time in every brevet I ride, my body sends hard signals to my brain to quit, flat out stop, abandon, DNF, fuck it! It’s like a muscle cramp but in the head. It’s typically 5/8 of the way through the brevet. I am past the halfway point and I am in the purgatory because the finish is well out of sight. The devil called Quit sends out his minions of messages, such as, ” you’re fried, you’re feet are on fire, it’s freezing and wet, you’re hands are numb and your back aches, you’re legs are toast and you’re balls of steel have gone softer than your ear lobes! You are miserable, alone and it’s in the middle of the night.” And it goes on and on. It gets so bad I think of things that could take me out accidently on purpose!
God, it sucks. Lord help me! This mental seizure happened to me recently on a 400k! It was my first time of the year in hot weather, the course was ass-cracking flat and moderate winds. Sounds ideal, really! Yes, but it was still a beat down of wear and tear after a while and the Quit devil was coming out to wreak havoc on my softened stubborn brain! How do I survive such a predictable symptom? The key is to keep rolling, further. I have read all about not thinking of the finish line of brevets. They are too far away to mentally obtain being 100 to 1000k away! Rather, it is best to focus on something more obtainable like one control at a time. However, when you are at a point when you want to stop the world and get off, you gotta drill it down further like to the next turn on your cue sheet, or the top of the next hill, or store, or a shady safe spot to get off your bike and take a mini break. Make that Quit devil recede back to it’s nasty cave in your brain. Drown that bastard with fresh water too! My defense against that tormentor Quit is to activate my memory of past victories overcoming worse demons of the sort. Quit has rarely won a battle! Randonnuering, you don’t win like in a race. You finish, but you are victorious over the rat bastard Quit! That is a huge prize with a lasting trophy to take to the next challenge! Another method to combat against the oncoming brain cramp of Quit is playing out the scenario if you do cave in and…..you know…Quit. How do you get home? Could be harder. What do you tell your friends and family in a face saving way? Good luck! Oh my, what will all your Facebook friends think of you now? Then what about the next time you decide to ride long? Quit is going to reveal itself. Always has, always will, again and again. Are you going to cave? It is said, once a quitter, always a quitter. You have a much bigger hurdle to overcome with that SOB now! And then there is the ultimate coup de grace, when your “pals” who are terminal quitters from long ago on the sideline will mutter in your ear, “Maybe you ought to do something else for fun, like us.” Yikes! The final weapon of suggestion in the fight against the devil called Quit is God himself! My favorite righteous tool is from the book of Romans 5..”.but we also rejoice in our affliction because we know affliction produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope. This hope does not disappoint because God’s love has been poured in our hearts….” Ride with all your heart and feel that Quitter whither away like Dracula under the noonday sun! Put that in your toolbox!
It’s time for me to shut and ride!
poppapro 