Coming from a background of competitive everything, be it martial arts and paintball tournaments to chess and magic the gathering events, I always tried to be the best that I possibly could. Though my motivation to find greatness through adolescence was different, I always seemed genetically predisposed to strive for progress. Finding both large and marginal improvements was something that I searched high and low for as it helped me excel in my competitive hobbies. Unfortunately my most substantial pitfall throughout my journey was that I consistently aimed to win not for personal growth, but to be better than the next person in line. Though I learned much and usually developed quickly (sometimes not as much), I failed to strive for what is far more important to me today; my own high potential irrespective of what others may or may not achieve.
The merits of racing
Bicycle riding and racing are very unique and interesting arts being that they require their participants to be multi-faceted in numerous ways. Patience, physical strength and endurance, chess like foresight, nutritional knowledge, biomechanical harmony, mental tenacity and mechanical understanding are just a few key variables that immediately come to mind. To be a successful and dynamic cyclist, racer or not, is to embody the aforementioned attributes simultaneously. It is to the degree that we incrementally grow in each dimension that we can to that very degree enhance our over all ability as cyclists. Racing is an outstanding stone of which we can hone our tools by being thrust into scenarios that demand our immediate receptivity. Any lack thereof directly translates to a very visceral shortcoming. Being pushed in different ways and stepping out of comfort zones is something that can benefit even the most recreational cyclist. Racing sets the stage for a plethora of learning when it comes to the essential building blocks of cycling. Be it on-the-fly mechanical problem solving or last-ditch effort psychological trickery, the race is a game of back and forth fluctuation; a cat and mouse dance with you sometimes being hunted by a field of hungry chasers. More often than not the real race of cycling is a mental game of determination within your self. Persistence and timing are equally key to success as brute strength and speed. Though engaging in sportive cycling can be advantageous in more ways than not, the competitive nature of the game leads some to obsession, mental burnout and overuse injuries if not managed carefully.
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| Former leader of the Giro D'italia Alberto Contador holding the Maglia Rosa (overall leaders jersey[pink]) by taking only necessary risks, working cohesively with his team and constantly gauging his current state. |
Where are you?
There comes a point where you have to sit back and be honest with yourself about your current physical conditioning, technical abilities and experience. If you push so hard that you hurt yourself and others in the process of being overconfident, you may find yourself in a state of serious pain, both mentally and physically. In the context of cycling there is not a lot that is more vexing than the mental anguish of knowing that you so easily could have avoided adversity by simply letting off the gas a bit and being realistic about the circumstances. Taking risk is of course essential to growth, but over extending yourself so much that you inflict irreversible damage is something that is entirely avoidable altogether. I have seen many athletes push themselves so far that the only thing that seemed to stop them was to literally fall flat on their own backs. Mental clarity and physical resilience has to constantly be in our periphery if we are to safely climb the mountain of growth (pun intended).
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| No need to allow you and your friends to amount to this.. |
The race with yourself
In 99.9% of instances there always seems to be someone out there that is in one way or another better than we are. Be it our ability to descend technical single track or glide up double-digit grade hills, somewhere out there someone is doing it faster. The important point that I allude to here is that no matter how hard you train, how good you are or how many races you win, there is always margin for improvement within your own sphere of activity. Regardless of whether you are in the bottom of the barrel when it comes to your rivals or winning virtually everything in sight, your ability to move forward is entirely up to you and massively dictated by whether or not you take your own baby steps within your abilities. So what if your friend is that much better than you; Is he/she the same age, have the same experience and fitness, ride the same bike or have the same weekly work load as you? There are so many variables in the equation that it is entirely irrelevant if the next person is any slower or faster than you. Assuming for a moment that you have outdone the remainder of your counterparts, would it be rational to conjure up a argument that supports a decision to stop seeking improvement? Why let circumstances such as these in any way dictate your own personal trajectory. What really matters is where we are, what we are doing, and identifying those areas within which we can grow. Shy of the professionals who literally eat, breathe and sleep competitive cycling, no two individual's circumstances are alike. You are here today with your physical abilities and the only way to progress is to identify it as just that. This is your life we are talking about here and no one else's. To compare ourselves to the Lance Armstrong's out there is to set such a high standard that we will no doubt feel forever inferior to our seemingly immortal idols.
So next time we set out on a good ride with a friend lets try to be a little more receptive to the fact that each one of us is unique, and that there is no reason to be hard on ourselves or others for being incapable of maintaining that particular pace for "x" amount of time. If we can all be inviting in ways such as this the doors open that much more to fun experience with both new and old friends. Going out on solo rides and pushing yourself is a fantastic way to become stronger in many forms, but with regard to our fellow cyclists, we need to respect one another's unique conditions and try our best to make the most of such circumstances.
