Monday, June 24, 2013

Learning to Listen

Well the CA State Champs race in Big Bear was a giant bust for me.  I'm not sure all the parts that contributed to my bad day, but when the gun went off I didn't have the legs, and went I didn't have the legs I wasn't mentally ready to make a good race happen from there.

Once again I found myself questioning my racing all together.  This year has been awesome for me in a lot of ways, but I've really been challenged with my racing.  After months of great training I've yet to have any big breakthroughs on race day, and ran into bad luck at about half of my races so far.  I keep praying that God shows me if he plans to do more through me at the races, or if it's time to move on.  I know there are a ton of great things the Lord has in store for me in the cycling world besides my own racing, but I'm not sure if it's time to dive into those other things or not.

Even being disappointed with a couple months of "average" races, I know I'm really blessed in life.  I'm excited and anxious to live more fully for God, but my ability to hear and see God's plans for me lags behind my own need to plan and set goals for what's coming next.  It's hard to listen for God's direction when life is so busy.  Thankfully we don't have to have all the answers for God to start showing us the way, and if we stay faithful and humble, he will guide each of us at all the right times.  Of course there will still be plenty of bumps along the way, I'm definitely frustrated with the one I'm going over one right now.  I just hope my own experiences and thoughts speak to some of you reading this and that you rely a little more on God and a little less on yourself for the things that you're chasing in life.  Thanks for reading!

Friday, June 14, 2013

Focus

Finally getting focused on some racing again!

Sure I did a 9-day training block with 25 hours of riding last week, but it's only the last couple days that I've been able to start getting focused some on the upcoming races.  There's only a few races I'm doing before calling it a season so it's time to get fired up.  Family, work, and life in general doesn't leave a lot of time to sit around and just think about racing.  But "mentally preparing" to race is actually a really important part of the puzzle to race well.  So here it goes - I'm once again trying to put the puzzle pieces together and God willing, make something special happen on the bike.  See you out there!

 The rough plan

 Putting time in on the lonely road (the only one in Orange County)

 Stage21 still helping get it done
 Eating clean when I can
 Watering hole
 Switchbacks
My new home away from home

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Back at It

Yesterday I jumped back into a hard training routine with a solo 100 mile ride around the roads and bike paths of Orange County.  It was a good day and I followed it up with 4 hours of tough single track in 90 degree weather on the San Juan trail.  Here we go for the second half of my season!!

The goal is to contend for the podium at Marathon Nationals and make my way to the Leadville 100 for the first time. Along the way will hopefully be the CA State Champs and Tahoe 100k.  

The last 3 weeks have been my mid season "break" and I had at least a dozen days off the bike all together, which I'm sure will be good for me over the next couple months.  But I did throw a few hard rides in there, was really busy at work, and had a great trip visiting family in Texas.  So it's not like I was sitting around.

All this is after a tough 3 week span in late April and early May.  It was pretty rough when things didn't go as well as last year at the Whiskey 50, Idyllwild Challenge, and Catalina Gran Fondo all 3 weeks in a row.  Of course I was hoping to do even better than last year at those races, and worked really hard to be ready to.  God had a different plan, and I was pretty ok with that.  But I got really frustrated with how much time and effort I put into my riding, only to be disappointed when things did't go how I hopped.   Now that I want to give more time and attention to Cameron I was asking myself if all the effort was worth it?  That's not an easy question for me to answer and only time will tell.  But for now, yes, I do have more to do at the races.

Hanging in Austin

Climbing above the clouds on the San Juan Trail