When is a beginner's end?

[Zen]

Hmmm.
I don't think I want to be an expert

[martinkap]

Whether one is a beginner depends only on his/her frame of reference.

Among Tour de France cyclists I will always be a beginner, among my friends, I might have the same experiences as them and thus I'm not a beginner anymore.

Feeling as a beginner is only state of mind and only depends on the comparisons you make. Forget about being a beginner and start feeling as a champion. You have a bike, you cycle, you are winning every day you log those miles!

Martina

[Crankin]

When I am around people like SheFly, I always feel like a beginner.
However, to my "regular" friends, I am more like Lance.
It's always in the eyes of the beholder. Personally, I feel like an experienced intermediate level cyclist. I'll never race or get much faster, but most people see what I do as "crazy."
Funny, a few years ago, I read (don't remember where) a piece that said people like me have a lot more in common with a high level racer than with a sedentary person who only engages in activity by watching football on TV.

[Aggie_Ama]

Somedays I feel like a beginner, somedays advanced. It depends on company, my own mental state and the ride. It is all relative IMO.

[SheFly]

When I am around people like SheFly, I always feel like a beginner.

FWIW - I don't think of you as a beginner. Like you said, you are out there doing what so many others do not.

And I liked what GraysonKelly said about always learning new things. To many, I am not a beginner, and my racing license does say something about Expert somewhere on there. BUT - I have moved to my level of mediocrity, and consider myself a beginner in my new classes - the bottom of the totem pole (and often, the results!). I learn something from the people against whom I "race" and with whom I "train". To them, I am a beginner ...

Don't get caught up in labels. Go out and enjoy your riding!

SheFly

[RoadRaven]

Don't get caught up in labels. Go out and enjoy your riding!

SheFly

Thumbs up!

#1, SheFly... this is well said

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hmmm.
I don't think I want to be an expert

An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less, until finally they know everything about nothing.

[GraysonKelly]

I think I'll keep feeling like a beginner for a long time because I'm always learning something new. I don't feel timid anymore, but I hope I don't get the point where I stop learning and stop trying new stuff. Cuz then it gets boring.

[indigoiis]

I think it's when you are so freaking tired, and your stomach is upset, and you want to give up and throw the bicycle down a ravine, and you are thinking of crying and suddenly you're really crying, and you're yelling swear words to the gods and you hate your bra and you hate your shorts and your shoes are killing you and your saddle is making you scream and all you want is a long shower and to collapse on the couch at home...

and you keep going.

[Pink Diva]

I think it's when you are so freaking tired, and your stomach is upset, and you want to give up and throw the bicycle down a ravine, and you are thinking of crying and suddenly you're really crying, and you're yelling swear words to the gods and you hate your bra and you hate your shorts and your shoes are killing you and your saddle is making you scream and all you want is a long shower and to collapse on the couch at home...

and you keep going.

Love it! Haven't done this yet since I'm a newbie, but I've done this running so many times....yep, I am a masochist, hear me SCREAM!

[DebTX]

I think it's when you are so freaking tired, and your stomach is upset, and you want to give up and throw the bicycle down a ravine, and you are thinking of crying and suddenly you're really crying, and you're yelling swear words to the gods and you hate your bra and you hate your shorts and your shoes are killing you and your saddle is making you scream and all you want is a long shower and to collapse on the couch at home...

and you keep going.

I loved this - I'm truly inspired by it.

For me, I think I'll stop thinking of myself as a beginner when I post more "answers" than "questions" on the TE "New Riders" Board

[OakLeaf]

An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less, until finally they know everything about nothing.

I love that!

I think to me, what makes me feel like I'm not a beginner cyclist is that I have an idea of where I need to improve my skills, and some of the steps I can take to improve. (I'm not talking about speed necessarily - not at all for myself - but form, pacing, handling, climbing, cornering, endurance, mechanical maintenance, all the skills that make up cycling.) Having enough knowledge and self-awareness to identify at least some of what I lack.

But I know I need to cultivate "Zen mind" throughout my life, and cycling is definitely a part of that.