By being a cyclist I have finally learned about Einstein’s theory of relativity and time. Time is a very funny concept. Einstein says the faster you move the slower time moves. Dr. Who says that time is a funny stringy ball kind of thing. I don’t understand Dr. Who but Einstein is correct, the faster I ride the slower time moves, especially inside.
The other day I was doing SEs, slow cadence peddling at high watts, 80% with pops at 120% and the 2mn pops took forever. Not to mention the length of the Sunday inside rides. I swear that 3 hours can seem like days, weeks or eons. The only thing that makes time move faster is talk, no matter how odd (I will be back to that in a second) or some kind of distraction.
Back to talk making time move faster. Most of us inside riders have a repertoire of jokes and stories. If we are board enough we will resort to worse and odder stories. The funny thing is that the listeners don’t seem to mind how odd the conversation is. The banter makes time flow. I have the reputation of being a good talker. I need the blather so I can ride and not fall off the bike, it keeps my brain from seizing. One could say that talk is the lubricant of time. More talk, the faster time moves. No talk or time lubricant and time screeches to a halt.
Here is a simple way to test my hypothesis. Ride by yourself inside for 3 hours. Check the clock when you start riding but don’t look at the clock as you ride. Then as you ride estimate the amount of time you have ridden. I suspect you will think you have ridden longer then you really have, in fact you will think you have ridden much longer than 3 hours. In fact I am riding now and trying to pass the time, but time is not moving as fast as I would like so to speed time up I will type and talk thus going to mach 2.
Yes time is starting to move, I feel much better, the ride seems shorter. But I need more speed like on Star Trek, “Scottie I need more power.” Scottie replies, ‘Captain I can’t violate the laws of physics.”
Yes we can violate the laws of physics, we have the secret ingredient of time. I will now move to mach 3. GTG, see you on the road.
