There’s an old meme from the absurdist animated comedy show Aqua Teen Hunger Force that’s enjoyed a resurgence of late, at least in the circles in which I run. Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that many of the people in those circles are roughly my age. It’s a quote from Master Shake, the overly confident, easily irritable blowhard who is, uh, also a milkshake (don’t ask too many questions). While the show began all the way back in 2001 and reached the height of its popularity in the aughts, it got some notoriety in recent years because of Master Shake’s eerily similar oratorical expression to that of our most recent former president.
Anyway, don’t think about that too much. The important part, here, is the meme.
“I am 30 or 40 years old and do not need this” has become something of an internet anthem for folks my age, which is, of course, 30 or 40 years old. I never found myself thinking about it, even though I knew about it, when I was 30. Now that I am (or) 40, though, I am constantly tempted to insert it into a conversation as a joke, even more so than the most famous rant about being exactly 40.
ANYWAY. Listen, this is about being 40, and the things that you really need at any age, but that you especially realize how much you need at 40. And one of those, if you’re actively trying to get better at an athletic activity, is an offseason.
There’s been plenty of research that shows that kids who play multiple different sports throughout the year, eschewing hyperspecialization, tend to be happier and healthier. This makes a lot of sense with baseball pitchers, preserving young arms to help fight against the Tommy John epidemic. But it’s especially important as we get older, as it takes longer to recover from hard workouts, and even longer from injuries.
For how few actual bike races I participated in this year, I’ve had a pretty rough one, physically. I’ve managed to avoid overuse and burnout, mostly as a result of just being too busy to get the miles in during the second half of the summer. Having a kid will do that.
Still, I’ve been very conscious of trying to give my body the break it needs to actually build myself back up for next year. This doesn’t mean I’m not riding my bike. It just means I’ve dumped structured workouts and dialed back my mileage, mostly focusing on solid endurance pace as I start to get back into the gym. And with good reason.
I’ll get more into the details of exactly what my plan is (yes, I very much have one) and the science behind it — recovery, strength training, base training, then structured training leading into the spring races — in future installments. Even if you aren’t trying to compete in anything, I hope you find all that useful from a health and wellness perspective, and if there’s anything you’d like me to dive into more deeply, I’m always happy to do so. Just leave me a note.
Oh, right, I also got a new bike. As I’ve leaned into my strengths, I’ve realized that, relatively, I’m better at holding steady paces for longer distances than climbing or sprinting at higher efforts. I also have a lower risk tolerance at my age for riding in high-paced packs, something inevitable in road racing.
You want to see the bike? Sure, let’s have a look.
Yep, that’s the good stuff. The original version of this Santa Cruz model was actually a cyclocross bike, but it’s been modified to be more of an all-road/gravel bike. But it’s still called the Stigmata. Because it’s a ‘cross bike. You either find that hilarious, or you might be in the wrong place.
One of the bike shop employees asked if I was going to be riding in cyclocross races with it. I will not be. Because cyclocross has lots of wipeouts, requires a fair amount of bike handling that I don’t have a ton of experience with, and generally plays against my strengths with short, sprint-and-stop-and-sprint style courses. And it would absolutely destroy this offseason that I’ve been so diligent about observing, so I can be my best next year.
But also, because I am 30 or 40 years old and do not need this.