To Be Rewrite

To ride or not to ride - that is the question.
Whether it is worth it to tack up
and endure the pain
or to crawl under blankets and skip practice
to be lazy, to slack - no more
and by taking a rest day to say I deserve
a break and take it easy for a day
an off day would be nice.
To wallow and laze - oh, to laze - perhaps
lose some time.  Ah, but here is the problem.
For if I don't ride, we will have lost a whole day.
I will have gained pounds and not progress
so I must choose -- I have no choice
but to throw on the tack and heave myself up.
Who else would deal with the load,
the pressure, the expectation to perform,
the dry arena, the jolt of adrenaline at the gunshot,
the shock of moving muscle -
when I could be curled up on the couch not racing?
Who could deal with self-competition, to shoulder the pressure, to take time to properly prepare -
but the fear of failure, which could come at any
turn, urges me to get up anyway and ride.