For the Love of Cycling
Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Cycling
There comes a point in a cyclist's life when you don't feel like you have to prove anything to anyone but yourself.  You've already won (or at least placed) in a race, ridden a double-metric century or two and/or done something else that somehow makes you feel "accomplished".  That's when you get away from all the competitive male bovine excrement and ride for the shear love (and/or need) of cycling.  You realize that your dreamed-of position on a pro team evaporated 25-plus years ago, but in retrospect you're glad you DIDN'T make a career of your first love.  Too much other non-cycling related good stuff has happened in your life (e.g., marriage, career, family, etc.) so that you're actually glad you didn't end up like whats-his-name who got caught doping.  When you get where I am at age 55, cycling is very important but certainly not all about who you are.  When you get to where I'm at, you don't have to have the latest carbon fiber whatever currently being used by the pros - you're just happy to still be able to ride your twenty-something year-old vintage steel-framed whatever and enjoy riding a bicycle purely for the love of the sport.  But when you occasionally do happen to beat the dude riding the state-of-the-art carbon fiber whatever who is easily 20-something years your junior in the sprint back to the parking lot, you're glad that you didn't heed everyone's advice and "act your age".