The Thing of the Week
One of the major downsides (as opposed to all the upsides 🤪) of logging a ton of miles commuting is boredom. It can be easy to stagnate just doing the saaaame loop, week after week. To keep things from being completely dull, I experiment with different routes, people watch, and, of course, practice THE THING OF THE WEEK.
Okay so, here’s the deal with the thing of the week and why I think everyone should do it (true facts): Each week I pick one super-specific bike skill and challenge myself to practice it to death during my commute.
It can be something basic like smooth takeoffs, or something picky and technical like using my upper thighs to support my body to relieve input on the bars during stops. Sometimes the thing of the week lasts more than a week—I’ll do it until either I’ve mastered the skill or I get bored and move on to something else.
Picking a specific task and making a game out of it is a great way to stay focused and commuting is the perfect time to do it. I already know the route and traffic patterns, so the basic structure is predictable leaving more brain-space to spend on THE THING OF THE WEEK.
Plus, what you do on the daily is what you’re going to do under pressure. I’m a huge proponent of going through all the right motions even if you’re just stuck in traffic on the way to work. (I am also a complete and total nerd. I hope we’ve painted a crystal clear picture of all my neuroses so far.)
THE THING OF THE WEEK has been a huge part of why I ENJOY commuting instead of dreading it. But it’s also been really rewarding to see the return on investment. A few summers ago I taught myself to start/stop/balance with only one foot using THE THING OF THE WEEK, in preparation for riding bigger bikes with taller seats. Worked like a dang charm. Need to reduce wear on your chain? Make THE THING OF THE WEEK super smooth shifts.
(Wrapped up in all this is a ton of my own personal baggage about always pushing myself to improve. While there are lots of positive side effects of learning to ride surrounded by mostly 10-20 year super seasoned riders, self-comparison is not one of the better ones. Whole other topic there we can unpack later, but suffice it to say MUST RIDE BETTER is always at the forefront of my mind.)
Okay so, here’s the deal with the thing of the week and why I think everyone should do it (true facts): Each week I pick one super-specific bike skill and challenge myself to practice it to death during my commute.
It can be something basic like smooth takeoffs, or something picky and technical like using my upper thighs to support my body to relieve input on the bars during stops. Sometimes the thing of the week lasts more than a week—I’ll do it until either I’ve mastered the skill or I get bored and move on to something else.
Picking a specific task and making a game out of it is a great way to stay focused and commuting is the perfect time to do it. I already know the route and traffic patterns, so the basic structure is predictable leaving more brain-space to spend on THE THING OF THE WEEK.
Plus, what you do on the daily is what you’re going to do under pressure. I’m a huge proponent of going through all the right motions even if you’re just stuck in traffic on the way to work. (I am also a complete and total nerd. I hope we’ve painted a crystal clear picture of all my neuroses so far.)
THE THING OF THE WEEK has been a huge part of why I ENJOY commuting instead of dreading it. But it’s also been really rewarding to see the return on investment. A few summers ago I taught myself to start/stop/balance with only one foot using THE THING OF THE WEEK, in preparation for riding bigger bikes with taller seats. Worked like a dang charm. Need to reduce wear on your chain? Make THE THING OF THE WEEK super smooth shifts.
(Wrapped up in all this is a ton of my own personal baggage about always pushing myself to improve. While there are lots of positive side effects of learning to ride surrounded by mostly 10-20 year super seasoned riders, self-comparison is not one of the better ones. Whole other topic there we can unpack later, but suffice it to say MUST RIDE BETTER is always at the forefront of my mind.)
Without further ado…
Last week’s THING OF THE WEEK:
Diving more confidently into low speed, sharp angle corners
This week’s THING OF THE WEEK:
Body positioning in at-speed corners, specifically “kiss the mirror” head & upper body
(Inspired by Jon, who’s made body positioning/booty-scootchin’ his THING OF THE WEEK for the last month and dang it’s really paying off, hate you very much babe.)
Jon just loves to scootch his booty, it doesn't matter the week! ;)
ReplyDeleteEntirely accurate. No shame in this scootchin’ game.
DeleteBooty scootchin' for all
Delete