It's good for you!

I remember sitting at the dinner table aghast at the slices of purple beets staining everything on my plate with their unholy blood-like juice. My parents said I wasn't allowed to leave the table until I'd eaten them, and thus ensued a battle of wills that lasted for years. Oh, I ate the beets, that time...and any other time I was unfortunate enough to get caught at the dinner table on a night we were served this vile weed, but I managed to skip dinner more often than the times I had to eat the wretched beets. Though I never cried about it, as one young man I know did once when I told him he had to eat the tiniest piece of broccoli I'd ever seen. Why did my parents make me eat beets? Why did I make my son try his broccoli? The reason given in both instances was that they were good for us.

Now, the question is, was it the vegetable itself that was good for us, or the growth we experienced from sucking it up and trying something we knew we'd never touch again?

Which brings me to my next thought. If you have a competitive nature, humiliation is good for you. Yesterday I mentioned that I had followed up one of my worst seasons of riding ever with one of my best ever, and that following last season's debacle, I was hoping for a similar effect in 2010. As I pondered this question on my ride to work this morning, the reason became clear.

A few years ago, my friend Russ bought a bike and started riding. I hadn't done much on the bike the year before, and one day we were out for a ride, and I found myself dropping further and further behind on a climb I should never have suffered on. Russ beat me to the top of that road by several minutes. I was humiliated and swore that he would never again beat me to the top of a climb. I worked and trained and had a great season that year, with a personal best at Cherohala.

Similarly, 2009 was a disaster for me, fitness-wise, with the coupe de grace coming in late December when Jon was in town and we went for this ride together. Jon kicked my trash all over the road, and the Beast even felt the need to pace me on some of the steep rollers to keep me from falling too far behind. I don't believe I've been as embarrased since the day Russ beat me up Dolly Ridge. I followed it up with an equally humiliating climb up to the Peavine Falls road the next day on mountain bikes (again, Jon and the Beast enjoying lots of time to chat while waiting for me to join them atop the climb).

So, like the previous episode, I'm once again motivated. Motivated to ride strongly, to avoid the shame of barely being able to finish a 35 miler. To that end, I took a longer route into work this morning, a route with more climbing and miles. I've eaten my year's helping of humiliation and I'm hoping it'll keep me fueled up for a long time.