By: David Huff
Changing Our Narrative
As a father of three, finding balance can sometimes be difficult. Over the years, I’ve learned my free time is important, but finding ways to incorporate my time into the lives of my children is just as important. As I have aged, with each injury my body has reminded me I am getting older. In both 2011 and 2012, I managed to injure both of my shoulders pretty badly. In 2012, I found out my wife and I were expecting our first child. Within that year, I injured my shoulder again. This time I could barely lift it and it was then that I decided it is time to begin to look into another sport that isn’t as abusive to the body. So I set on a goal to be in the greatest shape of my life before I hit 30. And so, this is where I began my journey on becoming an endurance athlete.
As a child, I always enjoyed being outside and decided to purchase a bike. I started off riding around neighborhoods, then on trails, and eventually on the street. Over the months, I found myself falling in love with being lost on my bike. I got hooked on the sport and in 2012 I completed my first 65-mile cycling event. At that point, there was no looking back. Over the next year, I completed two separate events, both being 100 miles in distance.
When I first journeyed into cycling, I was still playing basketball. Cycling had its benefits because I could run all day. Someone even complimented my endurance by saying I have stamina like a horse. Because basketball is a physical sport, I still found myself lifting weights as well. So here, I had the complete recipe. Basketball, cycling, endurance, and strength training. But with the birth of my child in June of 2013, time wasn’t something that was freely available as it was before. At this stage of my life, I enjoyed all that cycling brought into my life and made the decision to step away from basketball.
In 2014 I made a full transition into cycling and now consider myself a novice. Similar to basketball, cycling is like poetry in motion. When you’re out riding, the sounds of the road and your surroundings are like an orchestra. Your legs are moving in unison as though they are the wheels of a locomotive. Your breaths are strong and passive like a sudden gust that is followed by a calm breeze. When riding in a paceline, you become friends with complete strangers. When moving at 20+ mph, your hope is that the person in front of you calls out each hazard, you hope they don’t suddenly hit their brakes, and you pray the person behind doesn’t run into you. I often tell people cycling is the most therapeutic sport I’ve ever done, but the most dangerous as well.
Each sport has its hazards. Cycling is both leisure and physically demanding on the body. Cycling is both therapeutic and exhausting. Cycling is both relaxing and tormenting. Cycling and endurance sports are a lifestyle, not a habit. Endurance sports also require adapting. Earlier I mentioned that having my children as part of my lifestyle is just as important. When playing basketball, lifting weights and getting strong was a must. The older I’ve gotten and the more injuries I’ve sustained, I realized one does not have to be as strong as an ox. Endurance workouts are just that, endurance. Your muscles are designed to last and put forth the same effort from beginning to end over a 2- to 3-hour duration.
My workouts now consist of doing workouts at home with little resistance and body weight. If one wants to put in the work, you must train when others are asleep. For me, that has been the hardest discipline. But spending time with my family was a priority, therefore I was willing to get up early and work out at a time where it did not affect my family. Do I still ride? Yes, but rarely. Currently, I’m in a season where riding is not a priority, but spending time with my family is. Years back I had an elder tell me, every decision we make in our lives will either add or subtract to the legacy we leave behind. My prayer is that I leave a legacy of being a great father.
