I'm not going to lie, I had a shitty week. However, as shitty as my week was for me emotionally, physically it was perfect. Perfect training, perfect diet, perfect amount of sleep every night and afternoon. Perfect. I fell back in to my old habit of spending nearly every waking moment (when I was not on my bike of course) with my nose buried in one of my many cycling books. In just 4 days I made it through 234 pages of 263 pages of "Bicycle Road Racing" by Edward Borysewicz. I studied and pondered every word. I had rememorized the cycling bible. On race day, I did everything perfect. Perfect breakfast, perfect breathing exercises, perfect warm up, perfect everything. I felt like shit in the race. Complete and utter shit. Hollow, worthless, and pathetic. It was everything I could do just to finish.
And I know exactly why: I'm actually trying to race well. Not my style. I'm the kind of kid who has one of the best races of his career after playing beach volley ball in the sun for 6hrs and eating half a birthday cake before deciding, "Ya, I should probably race today.... hey, maybe I can make some money!" The night before some of my most memorable rides I was eating hot dogs and pasta cooked over a fire and sleeping in the dirt.* I destroy entire peletons after waking up 2hrs late, running around trying to find my shoes, and shoving 6 slices of bread in my pocket for, "race food." The only way I can really fly in bike races is when I'm flying by the seat of my pants.
So that is just what I am going to do. I'm going old school from now on. I am still going to train like a robot because I firmly believe that tallent don't mean shit unless you work your ass off. But I will be a robot who stops to smell the roses every once and a while and partakes in a little birthday cake munching every once in a blue moon. And as far as racing goes, I am going to stick with what got me here in the first place: Instinct, Ballz, and Wild Flyers off the front.
Oh boy, tomorrow is going to be fun!
alex
And I know exactly why: I'm actually trying to race well. Not my style. I'm the kind of kid who has one of the best races of his career after playing beach volley ball in the sun for 6hrs and eating half a birthday cake before deciding, "Ya, I should probably race today.... hey, maybe I can make some money!" The night before some of my most memorable rides I was eating hot dogs and pasta cooked over a fire and sleeping in the dirt.* I destroy entire peletons after waking up 2hrs late, running around trying to find my shoes, and shoving 6 slices of bread in my pocket for, "race food." The only way I can really fly in bike races is when I'm flying by the seat of my pants.
So that is just what I am going to do. I'm going old school from now on. I am still going to train like a robot because I firmly believe that tallent don't mean shit unless you work your ass off. But I will be a robot who stops to smell the roses every once and a while and partakes in a little birthday cake munching every once in a blue moon. And as far as racing goes, I am going to stick with what got me here in the first place: Instinct, Ballz, and Wild Flyers off the front.
Oh boy, tomorrow is going to be fun!
alex
*That's not to say living here isn't a little bit like camping. I danced for almost a full 15min after finding a busted up bookshelf that I could use the wood from to put under my mattress to soften the blow of the metal cross bars spaces 5 inches apart that my dilapidated 2inch thick foam pad rests upon. I think my father put it best after I told him my spectacular news, "So now your 2inch thick pad rests on boards you took from a busted old bookshelf? Dude, I know stoned ski bums who've got it better than you." Thanks dad.
1 comment:
Dude,
It's freakin Febuary. It's way early in the season. Your going to see some inconsistant results this time of the year. Some good, some bad. Just be happy you get to race instead of just training.
This time last yr you were laying around with a broken knee cap. Think and work for the longterm.
careTake
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