Some of my friends hardly train alone which is fair enough if that’s what helps them, and TBH I’ve generally enjoyed riding with people the last couple of weeks but it does make me feel mentally tired.
I’m more than happy just going out by myself no matter the distance and daydreaming etc., people wonder how I’m recharging doing exercise but I don’t think they realise I’m recharging my brain!
When I’ve done various psychology tests I come out as massively introverted, my GF thinks it’s wrong but if you read about it, I know it’s very accurate for me.
I read the book, Quiet, it rambled on a bit in places and wasn’t really relevant for me without kids, but a lot of it felt quite accurate.
This is my world and has been all my life. Ive known this for decades. A bit more extreme, it is a book worth to explain.
However, I have recently learnt that just like in training, being exhausted generally no matter the cause is good as long as you take the required time to recover, grow stronger and take an extra step the next time the cause of that exhaustion occurs.
You must have set the goal for a reason, if it is still important, but more difficult than first thought keep going and trying.
My wife and I joke… the world would be great if it was only us, but as much as we would like that to be true its not.
Guess I’m probably mid way on the scale between introvert and extrovert, and generally enjoy training with other people as well as alone.
Point of order- if you can actually talk, you picked the wrong training buddies- they’re too slow
One thing I’ll say, TT has been a great source of social battery trickle feed while we have been away from home. Especially in the first few months when we knew no-one here. Thanks everyone & hope we keep shooting the breeze here long after our bearings have rusted.
I used to do group rides when I first started and it was useful to find new routes and sometimes to motivate myself to get out during winter, but usually had no problems going on my own.
But it often ended up being a smash fest! I don’t think people were doing it on purpose but just couldn’t pace themselves. So you’d get back having done a hard session instead of an endurance long ride.
As I started doing full distance races I’d do most things on my own as it was difficult arranging times and paces.
I have three training partners
Who I train with most weeks
But only for one hour each.
One is a good runner ( we do strength) mostly legs amazing at plank and leg curls can do 3 pull ups max !
One we do a HYROX type session ( he is very stuck for time and sometimes this is his only training session )
The other … is likely to lose interest actually during the session and go for a fag “ I’ll meet you in the bubbles pal “ but if we do spin he stays in the class and gets his phone out ?!?
He is totally mad and does at least one marathon a month often further ( ultra runs) he is the only endurance athlete I know that smokes and vapes. He runs 3:50- 4;10 depending on course and does basically zero training he’s a great laugh though ( he really doesn’t take running too seriously )
Any hard stuff I do alone especially cycling outside … group rides can be total faff
The long club rides I’ve done are 95% solitary, head down. Exchange some words occasionally, then chat over a coffee.
I did a solo 4hrs plus half hour break yesterday, with a podcast droning in my ears, but that’s a rarety. I guess there’s a reason beyond efficiency that I did most of my training indoors on the bike, it just suits me.
So I joined my local radio control model aircraft club and I’ve been having lessons. It’s really hard! But a bit of a breakthrough today and managed to fly a complete circuit of the field. They are a lovely bunch of retirees and a couple of them are into cycling too, so not all bad. I’m hoping to get my A Test certificate by the end of the summer hols. I’ve managed to pick another spendy hobby as I’m probably going to have to drop £400 on a trainer aircraft, transmitters, receivers and batteries etc.
Most of the guys fly electric as it’s a lot cleaner, quieter and more reliable than the old ic engines. A few still use ic but it seems to be dwindling, although they do make a great noise. You get about 10 minutes from the LiPo battery packs so it seems that you just bring down 5 or 6 fully charged packs, do a flight and then drink copious amounts of tea and coffee until you’re ready to go again. Quite a few of the planes are foam, these days. The one that ended up in the gorse bush had its undecarriage ripped off and the nose was badly bashed about, but it was flying again within the hour. Very unlike the old balsa wood days when you’d spend all winter making something only to see it get stuffed into the ground and in pieces. It is amazing how techy everything is. The modern transmitters have so much more functionality than they used to have. At the moment, I haven’t a clue about much of it, but they are a nice bunch of people who have been very welcoming.
That aircraft in the bush is the one that’s been recommended to me to buy; it’s called a Riot. Quite docile to fly but can do aerobatics when I get to that stage, later on. The club has two that I can use until I’m flying it on my own and then I have to get my own. £200 but it basically comes fully assembled and ready to go, but I need to then buy a transmitter / receiver / batteries. The big debate is do I go Futaba or Spectrum for my transmitter? It’s tubs Vs clinchers all over again!
They love anything you can chuck into the air. The drone that one of the guys used to find the plane has a 4k video camera. He basically launched it and then used his screen on the controller. For most of the flight he couldn’t even see it. When he wanted to bring it back he just set the home position for above his head and it dutifully flew back. It had about 30mins duration so much more than the planes, but they are smaller motors producing less power and the drone was well under half the mass.
