It's been no secret that last year was a tough year for me when it comes to riding a bike.\u00a0 I spent much of the year planning and executing a plan, but not a typical training plan.\u00a0 No, buying a business (most of you know I'm a chiropractor by trade) was a plan unlike any other that sucked most of the time out of my life.\u00a0 I raced all of four races last year and put in the fewest training hours I've logged in any year in the last half a decade.<\/p>\n

Because of that, and because I now have the additional responsibilities of running a practice, it's time for a renaissance of sorts.<\/p>\n

“Friends don't let friends get fat”<\/h2>\n

I had been looking for a little motivation<\/a> to build my early season on.\u00a0 Sitting on the trainer isn't the most fun, so a fun early season target would be most welcome.\u00a0 What was out there that would be worth doing, though?<\/p>\n

This most recent challenge, which I intend to document in a series called “Motivation Monday” is based on a challenge\/request from a friend of mine (thanks, Nate!)\u00a0 Nate, much like myself, spent much of last year on the sidelines, albeit for very different reasons. \u00a0Those reasons don\u2019t really matter, suffice to say he was in the saddle less than I was.\u00a0 Recently, when he texted me and asked if I had any interest in an early season ride, he framed it a little differently then most requests people make:<\/p>\n

“Monkey Knife Fight – April 14th.\u00a0 I've been intrigued by this ride for a few years and I should really stop being fat.\u00a0 Any interest?”<\/p>\n

How can you say no to that?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Monkey Knife Fight….what?<\/h3>\n

It sounds as strange out loud as it looks on paper.\u00a0 Monkey Knife Fight.\u00a0 Monkeys fighting with knives.\u00a0 The illustration above can only begin to offer an explanation.<\/p>\n

Monkey Knife Fight<\/a>\u00a0is a long-running\u00a0Pennsylvania tradition.\u00a0 For nearly 10 years now, folks have gathered in Emmaus PA to sample some of the prettiest and most wicked terrain the region has to offer.\u00a0 And this isn't one of those cute little Gran\u00a0Fondos with all the glass smooth asphalt and support.\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 Monkey Knife Fight is a\u00a0spring classic<\/em> in the truest sense of the word.<\/p>\n

So for those of you who aren't familiar with the term, what exactly does a “spring classic” entail?\u00a0 Well, here's a checklist for you:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s got big grades (20%???)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s got gravel, dirt and crappy pavement.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s got bad weather (which can be commonplace.)<\/p>\n

It's a hard distance and elevation.<\/p>\n

It's miserable.<\/p>\n

And…<\/p>\n

It's fun as shit.<\/p>\n

It's also not a race, but it's all about company and fun.\u00a0 Per the BikeReg<\/a> description:<\/p>\n

It's not a race! But it is a social ride, because misery does love company. Most of it is paved, with seven dirt road “sectors” that are as sharp as any knife you'd ever find on a monkey.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sounds like my kind of ride.\u00a0 Sounds like a fun way to kick my ass into gear and get into some kind of racing shape.\u00a0 Hell, racing should be fun, and it's more fun if you're in shape, which I'm going to have to be for this event.\u00a0 Turning that fitness into some race fitness should be pretty easy, whether it's track racing<\/a>, crits<\/a> or the occasional time trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow along and help kick my ass<\/h3>\n

So follow along, dear friends, as I whoop my ass into shape for this monumental task.\u00a0 I've got 4 months, so I need to get cracking.\u00a0 You can follow me on Strava<\/a> and on Zwift<\/a> and watch my progress.\u00a0 And don't forget to subscribe to the Tailwind Coaching Newsletter<\/a> so you don't miss a Motivation Monday post!<\/p>\n

To make it more awesome, Monkey Knife Fight benefits the Perimeter Ride against cancer<\/a>.\u00a0 Fuck cancer.<\/p>\n

This will be fun.\u00a0 Stay tuned and hopefully my suffering will create some motivation for you too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When a friend asked me to join him for Monkey Knife Fight, how could I say no?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,21,118],"tags":[86,5404,60,5408,187],"yst_prominent_words":[5400,3049,5393,5402,5383,5397,5405,5389,5392,5390,5388,5391,301,5401,4967,4990,272,5396,5407,4975],"wppr_data":{"cwp_meta_box_check":"No"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Monkey-Knife-Fight-Featured.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12997"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13020,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12997\/revisions\/13020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12997"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwind-coaching.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=12997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}