Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Someone recently described me as "slight." Which is far from how I think of my physicality. I feel sturdy and able, yet ever aware that there are people much more physically powerful than I all around me. I've often wondered how others experience their bodies -- what must it feel like to be a man with that effortless strength? What must it feel like to be a small woman, weighing less than 100 lbs? Do they feel different in their bodies than I do in mine?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

you could always strap on a backpack full of concrete and pretend what it's like for me to climb hills. your muscles would adapt eventually!

brianfmorrissey said...

Effortless? Sure! Chasing down Andy Daley's wheel ain't no thing, since we're both men.

Hahahahahahhahaha.

(Blarrrf.)

Tamara Fraser said...

Heh, I'm not saying you guys don't work hard, I'm saying that your size and strength is very different than mine and I wonder how that effects the way you feel in your body and how you view the world.

Tamara Fraser said...

I mean, imagine ME chasing down Andy Daley's wheel.

Tamara Fraser said...

And Erik, you are literally TWICE my size. Other racers try and elbow you out of the way, and you bat them off like flies. Your power on the flats is immense. You are tall. What does that feel like?!

brianfmorrissey said...

As I said, it's all relative...you could be chasing down Rebecca Much and that would be comparable...

Tamara Fraser said...

Sure, but that's not the point. Your body is inherently different than mine and I wonder how that feels.

brianfmorrissey said...

Feels pretty normal, because it's the only body I've ever been in!

What I mean to say is, you are asking a very existential question, actually...because you are basically positing what it would be like for you to be in my body, racing a bike. Which is a pretty cool question.

But I have no frame of reference for that, other than if I one day woke up in Alberto Contador's body, showed up to the team ride, and dropped Soren on stairsteps like a bag of dirty laundry. Which would be a pretty mind blowing experience.

I understand where you're coming from tho...and it's just the opposite outlook for me. Except the other way, because it's a physiological barrier why women can't keep up with the strongest guys drilling it, it would be pointless and condescending to bring it up. As in, "god, I sure am glad I'm not a woman!" Because in the end, it really is all relative and your strength in your body feels like my strength in my body.