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A comfort zone is a psychological state in which things feel familiar to a person and they are at ease and in control of their environment, experiencing low levels of anxiety and stress. In this zone, a steady level of performance is possible


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Bill  On The Road

 by: Bill Oetinger  1/1/2022

The Comfort Zone

In the world of cycling, the term “comfort zone” has a few applications. What’s your comfort zone for fast descending? What’s your comfort zone for pack riding or a snappy paceline? Most of the time, the words reflect a state of mind, perhaps the opposite of being nervous or twitchy. Confident in your own competence…knowing you’ve got this.

But there is another kind of comfort zone: not a state of mind but simply being physically comfortable on your bike.

I thought about this recently when I recalled a funny incident from a few years back. I was checking in at the start of the Tour of the Unknown Coast up in Ferndale. My wife was with me although not riding the century. She was hanging out for the start and would then spend the day doing other things. She was a sort of a cyclist but not up for a challenging century. Her riding at the time was mostly cycle-commuting on heavy Schwinn beaters, first the Varsity she’d had ever since college and then a CrossCut.

Anyway, while I was checking in, she hopped on my bike and tooled around for a few minutes in the big parking lot at the Fairgrounds. She rolled back up to me after her spin and exclaimed, “That’s just not fair! This bike is so smooth and light…riding it is almost effortless!” Compared to her usual clunkers, my Merlin was a revelation.

And as nice as that Merlin was—back in its heyday—it was not nearly as smooth and light as my current bike, a Trek Madone. The basic bikes we ride—their essential configuration—may be the same as the bikes our grandfathers or great-grandfathers rode a hundred years ago but the technology hasn’t stagnated. The frames and all the little components hanging off the frames are being improved every year.

To cut to the punchline here…a modern bike, any halfway decent one, will land you in a comfort zone that most older bikes cannot hope to match. Riding a good bike is almost effortless, at least for most miles. Throw in some steep hills or too much heat or too much speed and your effort will have to ratchet up a bit. But the baseline task of making the bike roll up the road is as close to effortless as it can be. And along with the lack of effort is the comfortable ride. The New York Bike Snob guy used to mock bike reviewers who would describe a bike as “stiff yet compliant.” I take his point: it’s an oxymoron, in his estimation with the emphasis on the “moron.” And yet, and yet…I don’t know a better way to describe how a good carbon frame feels. It can be stiff when it needs to be but not too harsh; it can be compliant as needed but not too willowy. Add in a good saddle and good bike fit and riding is an almost effortless dream…easy peasy. 

In contrast to that, I’ll propose a little scenario. You’re on vacation, visiting some far-off relatives. You’ve left your bike at home and you’re getting cabin fever after sitting around the house for a few days with these folks. You wish you could just get out for a few miles and explore the town or the nearby country lanes. One of your relatives says, “You can borrow my bike.” Okay! And off you go, wearing your camp shorts and stuffing your tennies or tevas into rat-trap pedals. And the bike? It’s a beater. Not a good bike to begin with and a long way away from its last maintenance.

In all likelihood the ride ends up being a sufferfest and you come home exhausted and sore after 15 miles of neighborhood streets. Country lanes never get into the picture…a ridge too far. Have you had this experience? Or something similar? I have. It’s a brutally simple way to come to a better appreciation of how nice a nice bike can be and how pleasant it makes the task of pushing the pedals around and rolling along the roads. And how miserable it can be to try to do the simplest ride on a bad bike.

Now think about the other riders we see out there, perhaps especially along the bike paths not far from home. A lot of them are not “serious” cyclists. They don’t have the right clothing and they most assuredly do not have good bikes. Chances are they’re in the midst of that 15-mile ride on the beater bike, working harder to do their 15 miles than you’re working to knock off 30 or 60 miles…and not just working harder but suffering more discomfort. They have next-to-no comfort zone on their tired old bikes.

Granted, some of this is going to be down to personal fitness. Do enough cycling and you’ll become better at it, able to sustain the effort more comfortably and also stave off—or put up with—the little aches and pains that might assail you as the miles pile up. But having the right equipment—bike and gear—is a large chunk of what makes good riding so good. 

I do not subscribe to the old adage, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” I am not a conspicuous consumer of bike bling. You can get a decent bike without having to refinance your house to pay for it. The bike shops are full of excellent mid-priced bikes that are better in pretty much every way than the highest-priced bikes of 20 years ago. You can even resuscitate an older bike with some new parts and some TLC. I’m not talking about a state-of-the-art bike for racing or doubles or other hardcore pursuits. Just a bike that is not a clunky, chunky grinder.

When your neighbor says to you, “I just don’t know how you can pound out those long rides; I’d be dying after 15 miles!”…you can figure his own cycling experience involves one of those heavy, plodding lunkers, plus the wrong shorts and so on…the wrong tools for the job. If he’s just halfway fit—middle-aged fit—he would find a ride on any decent bike to be as much of a revelation as my wife did on my old Merlin. Like, whoa! This is amazing!

I am also not much of a believer in New Year’s resolutions. But this is January and the new year does offer us at least a benchmark moment to consider new beginnings, new opportunities. So as you face the new season and if you happen to still be riding a bike that makes even a few miles a painful chore, why not consider treating yourself to something just a little bit better? Maybe it’s time to invest a few bucks in getting the tired old bike renovated. Or even retired…time to spend a few more bucks on a new bike. If your only sense of what cycling can be comes from the seat of a clunker, you too will be amazed at how sweet and effortless a better bike can be; how it can turn a ride from a painful purgatory into a heavenly cruise. Maybe 2022 will be the year for you to make that discovery.

Bill can be reached at srccride@sonic.net



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