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@BringMeMyFix
Giving up hills has been a lot like giving up cigarettes. Habits and rituals get deeply ingrained, and there's definitely an element of psychological dependency. I fucking ruled the roost in London when it came to hills (with the sometime exception of Ben Pochee), and certainly had the fixed climbing scene sewn up down here. Now I'm content [spits out the word through gritted teeth] to watch others go up them ahead of me. No big deal - at least I can say 'been there, done that'.
But I've got some trackie genes, and I'm going to support them wholeheartedly (and whole bodiedly) this year, with what little time I have for training. So hills are out, amongst other things.
It's not the end of the world for the inner-grimpeur. Unlike smoking, I won't feel any remorse about taking them up again at some point in the future, if I get the urge.
In cycling, sometimes the rituals are what makes you - everyone's got their little quirks (pre-competition mantras, numerical obsessions, voodoo, whatever) - but there's also a place for knowing when to curb the ones that insidiously work against you. Quite a difficult thing to manage, even with a coach.
In summary: more low temps for the coming weeks.