Runners have to ride. Riders have to run.

First. I’m no one to tell you what to do. I’m not your life coach. I’m not your fitness coach (unless I am). I’m not your priest or pastor. I’m not your mom.

But hear me out.

I’m 49, 50 in December. In my life I have ridden tens of thousands of miles, no real clue how many. Maybe more. I have run thousands of miles, too. My whole adult life, nearly, I have played soccer regularly. I’ve dabble with rock climbing. I’ve hiked, and I have years of Suffer Club under my belt.

I’m not trying to impress you. True, I’ve been busy as hell, but also true that I’ve been stunningly mediocre at all those things. As with my writing, what I lack in quality, I make up for with quantity.

One thing I have learned is that each of those activities has its own tribe, who have no interest and see not point in doing anything else. At one time and another I have belonged to each of those tribes and had that attitude. Quite why someone, who is so mediocre at stuff, thinks he should focus on any one of them, is a fair conundrum. And yet, I have always felt palpable tension inside each of those tribes, whenever I performed a ritual with another tribe. Runners find it very suspicious if you run. Cyclists can’t fathom why you would run. There aren’t purity tests, but in each cohort there are very certainly those who won’t take you seriously unless you are maniacally devoted to their tribe.

Fair enough. I should not be taken seriously.

But I think runners need to ride, and riders need to run. Here are the whys: 1) Runners (of a certain age), accumulate wear and tear as they increase their mileage. If you don’t find another, lower impact, form of cardio vascular exertion, your fitness will always come up against what your body can tolerate. Riding gives you long period, low impact effort that can improve endurance without pounding your tendons to dust. 2) Riders need to run because weight bearing exercise improves bone density. This is less important when you’re young. It gets more important later. Running (especially trail running) improves proprioception and multi-directional mobility. It will help you avoid the repetitive motion injuries that cyclists tend to incur.

But also.

3) The world is large and time is short. Do as much shit as you can. All the shit. Quit fucking around. Stop staring at your navel. Break your routines. Do shit that scares you. Do things you’re bad at. It’s all good for you.

And in this way, you can live forever, or at least better, for longer, with more friends and a wider array of experiences and a smaller ego. Your mileage may vary.