Zwift and thoughts on community

Well folks, I am starting this section as a good way to share my thoughts and updates on life. Without a mainstream social media account I realize that most of my family and friends have no way of keeping up with what is happening in my life. These posts are going to be a little more free form, a little less grammatically correct, and more or less just a simple update of my life.

I finally got set up on Zwift after purchasing a low budget speed/cadence sensor, borrowing a CycleOps trainer, and using my phone as a screen. Just a single ride in and I was hooked! It is an incredible experience to see so many other people riding their bikes in this game, holy cow! I had no idea this many other athletes were riding their bikes so regularly!

This is a very difficult time for us all, and even as I am writing this I have decided to stay home due to a cough. The risk of spreading this to someone who will not handle it well scares me, and although I strongly believe that I will be just fine it is better to be safe than sorry.

At the start of this year I started working with an online coach. It has been a fantastic experience so far and is helping me to becoming way more consistent in my training than I ever have been before. Over the past few years I have trained for multiple events; half-marathon, marathon, triathlon, and a 50K trail race. Most of that training has been done alone, with the occasional friend tagging along. Now I find myself missing the community that I didn’t even really have.

Community is important, and right now all this social distancing has even me feeling very isolated. As soon as I logged on to Zwift and saw all of those biker and runner avatars I instantly started feeling better. After deleting my social media accounts a year ago, I have struggled to find any sort of online community that I actually wanted to be a part of. Instagram, for example, was my favorite social media site. I followed the people that I looked up to, and my feed was filled with motivational athletes striving to be the best version of themselves. Over time I started to realize that the endless scrolling was really just causing a lot of jealousy and resentment. After deleting my account it took about two weeks before I felt much better, and since then I have not looked back.

This past year away from social media has shown me that there is a healthy world out there for me to be a part of. Now, in this time of social distancing, it is very important to keep those connections I have made over the past year and reach out to friends and family.

We are not alone!