All about balance

For anyone actually interested in reading my blog I apologise for being away for so long. After the Lighthouse to Lighthouse ride my golf took priority for while as I tried to get ready for some competitions. That meant less bike riding and more time swinging a club and hitting little white balls. Not that I haven't been riding; I've just been doing slightly less of it. Which is probably no bad thing.

Before I did the L2L ride I had begun to get a little bored; certainly of training. It's hard to get up and "do the miles" especially if they are the same miles you've done for the last 10 months. And it was precisely this non-enjoyment of golf that led me to do the cycling in the first place.

The change to cycling can't be underestimated. For around 12 years I had been a highly driven competitive club golfer. For me that meant practice, games with mates and, most importantly, lots of competition golf. I was averaging over 50 competitive rounds a year. For someone holding down a full-time job that's no mean feat. I had stopped being obsessed by golf but I was still very keen.

Then my game started to slip away. Ironically it started to go after I started to go to the gym to get fitter to improve my golf. I lost some distance with my shots and, although my scoring improved for a while, I started to be unhappy with my game. Then it all went and I started playing worse. Of course competition golf is not the place to be when this happens. And eventually, in the summer of 2011, I found myself not enjoying the game at all. I still played because I enjoy the company and the banter as much as anything. But the golf, no, no enjoyment at all. And that's when I decided to do something else. You know all about the something else!

Now you might see my dilemma. I really don't want cycling to go the same way. However, I'm lucky. My golfing desire isn't finished, not at all. Having taken it back up (I never really went away from it completely) I'm enjoying it again. And you know what? I'm also playing better than I have in ages. It's like my body has re-adjusted itself and my brain has stopped tying me up in knots. I even managed to win a competition the other day. For me that is a complete vindication of my taking a break.

And here's the meaning of the title of this piece. I'm determined to maintain this balance. Golf and cycling as my main activities. If I've a cycling challenge in the offing, or a big golfing season coming up one or other of them might take priority for a while. But I never want to get in the position I was in last year; all out of balance.