From 36,000 feet in the sky, the world below appears flat as it pans by slowly through my window. 'Another way of seeing the world through a screen,' I think to myself as I scroll wanderingly through photos on my phone. Gazing back out the window, far below I can make out the fuzzy shadow cast by our airplane, a silvery penumbra hurling across the landscape. I focus on this fuzzy spot and contemplate the conflicting perspectives, one slow, one swift, and me, sitting still in my seat. I’m going fast and slow at the same time, and it makes me think how time and experiences have passed during this race season. Fast or slow, depending on how I see it. The images on my phone are proof. Many megabytes of moments, but all it takes is the swipe of a finger and they turn into a psychedelic blur.
It's the perennial summer time warp, kicked into turbo mode and made so rich by two-wheeled adventures. There have already been many, from back yard to distant country. After nearly two decades of bike racing, there has always been something novel about every season. From one perspective they might blur together, but I can recall something distinctly special about each one.
The 2015 has been especially unique because it is my first year as a “full time” Professional Cyclist. That is, no 40-50+ hours per week committed to energy development work, which had been the case since 2008, and full-time college before that (I became an Elite in 2007). I’ve always believed in playing the long game with my sporting career, and have been truly fortunate to work with such supportive employers and sponsors. Over the years they have enabled my big aspirations, professionally and athletically, which has provided me with amazing experience, and spurred me to achieve the best I can in all my endeavors. At any rate, I've been enjoying this year tremendously. It’s nice not to always be doing the dance with fitting in training and travel amidst weighty deadlines and a storm of emails and conference calls. Ironically, I do somewhat miss the challenge and fulfillment of pulling it off. But most of all, I am appreciating the chance to savor this cycling adventure a bit more than usual. If anything, life is less of a blur right now, and that’s nice. Since the spring World Cup campaign wrapped up in May, the summer film reel goes something like this:
Life may be less of a blur this year, but not the trees back home…they are blurring by almost every day...
Most days are dedicated to a vigorous training curriculum…ride, replenish, rest, rehash, repeat...
More time for rewarding extracurriculars, like mornings and afternoons spent volunteering with local community organization like the Whatcom High School Mountain Bike League, working with the next generation of shredders; or and Ride Run and Dig (RRAD), hosting “bike rodeos” and teaching grade-schoolers some bicycle basics, safety, and environmental stewardship…it’s inspiring and rewarding to see the flame ignite in some of these kids when they discover the fun of two wheels...
Getting more plugged in to the local community, co-leading a multi-week Functional Fitness for Mountain Biking Course at CorePhysio with my fiancee, Sarah, DPT...
Working in depth with the Kona Bicycles Product Development team testing and designing our new wave of awesome 2016 cross country bikes, like the Hei Hei Race DL and Kahuna DDL...
Then, of course, there's the racing...
ProXCT, Missoula - Getting tuned up for a big summer...sprint eliminator victory...5-star accommodation with the Clapp family…an ice cream problem...champagne chugging…jumps off stumps
BC Bike Race - Coming into form...ultra dry & hot weather…yellow jersey...some missed turns and missed glory…tasting blood...getting a bit too keen for the win…seven days of singletrack paradise...a memorable runner-up finish (Photos: Erik Peterson, BC Bike Race)
Pan Am Games - First major games…Team USA…inspired...first-lap-mechanical-disaster-to-comeback-success...determination to the finish...from DFL to 6th…finding the silver lining in knowing I was one of the fastest despite nothing to show for it…(Photos: Sean Scally, below; Canadian Cyclist, bottom)
US Cross Country National Championships - A venue thick with heritage, but not oxygen…feeling sharp as a knife and poised for something big…so were the rocks…podium trajectory impeded by a puncture...another test to the perseverance...over the last 6 years I've been 7th or better, and this year was a disappointing 7th...
"the essence of sport is the duel between the spirit of a person and the limitations of matter” F. Beckey
The world is still going by slowly outside, but I know the end of the season is rushing near. Up next is a trip to the East Coast for the last chapter of the 2015 season: Rounds 4 and 5 of the World Cup, then a strong push for the World Championships in Andorra. I’m hungrier than usual for a clean race, and am chomping at the bit to be on the start line again. This year was about going in deep, and I’m certainly there, despite not much to show for it in terms of wins or medals. I still care about “the win”. The recent misfortunes and mistakes certainly sting, but for me, there’s still a big sense of fulfillment that spurs me on. I’ll look back at the the heart of this season proudly as representing the strong performances I purposed for, just not the fortune I would have hoped for. Better that than the other way around.
While some people may dismiss sport as trivial and superficial by nature, I would argue that, ironically, it is precisely this proximity to triviality that can make sport so profound. In a realm where the conflict, defeat and disappointment seem to carry real consequences, at the end of the day, they don’t (notwithstanding the fact that some sports are objectively more physically dangerous than others). That’s the beauty of endeavor through sport. Underneath the failure and disappointment, there’s always a reward for giving your all at what you love to do. That reward is simply connecting with yourself and knowing yourself deeply.
Sport can incite a distracting, binary attitude towards the things we do. Indeed, racing is about being fast and not being slow. But, paradoxically perhaps, there’s much more to it than that. There is more than just being good or bad, winning or losing. Just like the view from the airplane, I guess, it’s not sufficient to just think about the rate at which the world goes by, but your orientation to it. It’s about something in between and beyond at the same time, that fuzzy realm where you beget your own fulfillment, no matter which end of the spectrum you find yourself on any given day.
“The views earned by long hours of toil are more wonderful than those gained in comfort.” F. Bekcey
(Photo above: Margus Riga/BC Bike Race)
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