Shut Up Legs!

Lately I have taken to the great wisdom of Jens Voigt.  You know that feeling when you're on the bike, pedaling into a head wind, the air is frigid yet your legs are screaming?  I had that experience yesterday.  I focused my thoughts on the above video and that made a slight difference.

I initially set out to ride my Surly Cross Check that I had recently built up as my commuter rig.  This has been my project for the last week since I replaced my Cross Check with the Nature Boy as my primary CX rig.  Everything worked great on the new bike build and I'm looking forward to the many rides I'll take this bike on in the future.  However, yesterday's ride was just miserable!  The snow was falling and I wanted to take advantage of the chance to get a little riding in.  I set out for a route South of town along the Stones River.  Every direction I pedaled felt like there was a head wind!  There was no escaping it.  To add to my discomfort, my toes were freezing as well.  This is a weird feeling when your legs are burning and your toes are freezing.  That must be what Purgatory feels like.  Anyhow, I made a few wrong turns and get displaced for a moment which just continued to add to the misery of the ride.  On the final stretch home, I looked down at my legs and said, "Shut Up Legs" and voila!  At that point I was good to go and made it home without any further fuss. 

So, next time you're on a ride and your legs are screaming, just look down and tell them to shut up!