Be Your Own Sports Fan: Shaking Cycling ADD

OBEY Jimmy

My self diagnosed ADD friend seemingly stumbled upon an epiphany of spectacular clarity.  He says, “I’m my own sports fan.”  Wha huh?  Did someone hear a heavenly chorus?  Now and then, in the trough between loud and colorful waves of distraction, Jimmy Road Rash rides a tsunami of incredible focus.  Yes, this is the same guy who rode right off the road and into a snow bank while looking at birds or something not too long ago.  When he first mentioned being your own sports fan, I wrote it off as sort of a hipster comment to eschew the pillars of cycling and training.  He’s been known to wear skinny jeans you know.  Now that I find myself bobbing in the trough between the Mohican 100 and Cyclocross season, fit with no clear direction for the next few weeks, I find it unbelievable.  Jimmy’s making sense, even with those queer Day-Glo freak glasses and wise-man beard.

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I had no clear plan after the Mohican 100 other than a secondary goal of bagging one stinking point at Cincinnati’s Ault Park criterium series.  Now that we’re on week 4 of the series, 10 days after Mohican, I’m realizing I’m like a 5000 meter speed skater trying to beat Vancouver in the NHL playoffs.  The endurance training necessary to be successful at a six hour event, doesn’t necessarily translate to the stabby efforts of crit racing.  Besides, my focus for training waned with Mohican.  The thought of sprint training makes me urk up a tiny puke.  Feeling like Hugh Grant explaining his call girl escapade on Leno, what the hell was I thinking? 

I Was My Own Sports Fan At the Sub 9 Death March

Being your own sports fan is ultimately selfish, a concept I have trouble with.  I’m a giver.  While I don’t blame my teammates, friends and readers, it’s the exposure to so many facets of cycling that’s given me cycling ADD.  I’ve consistently found myself dipping into every facet of the sport, sometimes at the same time.  This spring I’ve built trails, raced a 4+ hour cyclocross death march with no set course, attempted a 6 hour mountain bike race and raced criteriums.  In the past 3 months, I’ve raced every bike I own!  It's not Jimmy that has cycling ADD.  It's me.  

Check out your Facebook today.  No doubt there’s plenty-o-blab about the Ault Park crit Wednesday, the Ohio State Masters Road Race championships on Saturday, the Tower Park mountain bike race and the Hyde Park Blast and Madeira Criteriums.   Like Hugh Grant and call girls, I feel like I need to do them all.  Then a video of Jimmy in a toga sheet outfit, a wise-man beard and the queer sunglasses popped in my head, “Be your own sports fan.”  Yes Jimmy.  You're my Shepard Fairey and I will OBEY.

It’s not crazy to do what you want to do.  I think of my buddy Andy training toward the Lake Placid Ironman, Murray on the cusp of RAAM, and Chad laying sweet tread at Devou Park’s new mountain bike trails.  They’re doing their own thing, enjoying themselves, being their own sports fans and, in a non-psychopathic way, winning in their own minds like Charlie Sheen. 

It Still Has That New Bike Smell

What do you want to do Joe?  I wanna have fun and adventure wise-man Jimmy!  I’m tired of clocking hill repeats and logging hours.  Now that things are dry, I want to ride some sweet trails on the mountain bike I got in January but have ridden only 4 or 5 times.  I’m mountain bike race fit and even though it’s on the weekend of the two biggest criteriums in Cincinnati, I’ve never been to Lake Hope and that OMBC race sounds like fun and adventure.  Then I want to take a break from competition in July, run with my Ipod and maybe do that Iffy Ride and go for a swim afterward.  Is that a problem?  Not if you’re your own sports fan.