Getting serious about biking
The Tour de France is coming, and it's got me thinking.
I’ve always loved biking, but living near Chicago (where I was before joining Novartis) and spending so much time traveling for work has never been very good for biking. Instead, I run to keep vaguely in shape. And I don’t love running. I kinda like it, and I kinda get bored by it. Plod plod plod, 3 miles, 5 miles, yawn. New routes are fun, but you can only do so many new routes near your home or standard hotel before you’ve done them all. But biking - it’s fast. With 20-40 miles to play with, you can really shuffle routes around. And it’s fast. Plus you get to wear really funky clothes and play with all kinds of tech. And it’s fast. I think I mentioned that. Especially going downhill, or rushing to make it through a light that’s just about to turn red. Or when passing someone else on a bike.
It turns out that Massachusetts is awesome for biking. Long winding roads, drivers that generally don’t try to kill you, beautiful scenery, rolling hills, great bike shops. Wow. So this year, since the snow melted, I’ve been out on the roads in the early morning and on the weekends, putting in many hours on my crappy old commuter bike from the early 90s. It was great... I’ve started to remember how much I love riding. I promised myself that the week I got in 100 miles, I would consider getting a real bike.
On Father’s day, a few weekends ago, my kids all gave me hand-made cards with pictures of bikes. They sent me to the local professional bike store and told me to get myself something. So I did.
The bike is awesome... light, fast, stiff, fast. Fun. I’ve been out a lot, learning the bike. It’s faster than me... I can’ t really keep up with it. I put in 100 miles over the weekend, including a ride between Concord and Mt. Wachusett. I even managed to get a flat tire... authentic experience to the core.
And what I now remember is that biking is hard. Even the slowest guy in the Tour is about 100 times better than I ever will be. Those guys scream up mountains, fly down them, and sprint at 40-50mph. Having put in a lot of miles lately, it gives me a new appreciation for the real core of what makes the Tour great - the biking. The individual grit.
Helmets and hats off to the bikers in the Tour - best of luck, guys. Thanks for the show.