Mountainbiking and pain

Sometimes riding mountainbikes go hand in hand with pain.

There are three kinds of pain on a mountain bike.
Pain from Falling. Lets face it, it happens.
Pain from Overuse.
Pain from pushing your limits.

Falling
This past weekend I managed to fall again. Lately I havent had any bad falls, so was very fortunate up to now. Well that streak ended with a bang, and lots of scraping and a bit of swearing.
I am remembering all the disinfecting, bandaging and strapping skills I've picked up over the years. I've also bolstered my first aid kit with extra bactroban, betadine, bandages and gauze.

Pain from overuse
The repetitive nature of riding means that our jonts and muscles take a lot of strain, especially if a rider picks up his mileage very quickly. Every year at the 24 hour I push myself into tendonitis at the back of my right knee. I've made peace with it, but I really need to start paying attention to it. It is caused by a muscle imbalance between my Hamstrings and my Quads, as well as my hamstrings being to short. A proper bike setup should also help.

Pain from pushing too hard.
This is a good pain. The pain you feel when youride at a pace that is crazy stupid and you can hear your heart beating and your legs scream at you to slow down or stop and your lungs are clapping hands like a psycopath while your vision becomes like staring at a dark tunnel and the light is tinged red. And then you drop a gear and push harder for the last part of the hill or sprint to the finish line.
There is also a pain you get when you have been riding at a hard tempo for a while, say a MTB race and you press on and ride full tilt for the last 5 kms and then collapse from exhaustion after you cross the line.
I like this kind of pain. It's like a drug, and you feel like a warrior when you are cranking in your big blade after doing 50kms of hard riding. There is something satisfying about crossing the finish line knowing you gave your all.

The only way to improve is by working harder, and that means sometimers you will have to go through pain.
This is what seperates us from the TV crowd. We take the pain as part and parcel of the game. We learn to live with it, to embrace it, and to ignore it.

And pain makes beer taste better...