Chad's spot for various thoughts, musings, poetry, ideas and whatnot

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Tonight was supposed to be the night I left for Nationals. I was going to ride the Master's TT and see if I could improve on my performance from two years ago. That was the plan after winning the state championship and then Tundra. But things don't always work out the way you want them to.

I think I really underestimated the mental strain of comng back from the crash. I was able to push through the recovery and train hard to a point but it all fell apart over the last couple of months. The crash at Dauset started the decline and the reinjury at Helen sealed it but what really got to me was that I wanted to come back too much. I trained too much last October when I should have rested after winning at state and I left up after winning at Tundra and gained too much weight back. Mostly, I got tired of chasing the same old goals day after day after day with little change in my routine and no coaching input outside of myself. As I got tired there was no one there to keep me charged up.

So tonight I sit here at home and I'm thinking about next year and what that might entail. I need to make sure I take my three weeks to a month off in October and not rush back to ride a fast century in November. I need to spin and spin and spin through November and December and not worry too much about glass trophies in the cruelest of months. I need to practice my handling and upgrade some equipment and remember my love for riding.

One thing I should add though; I'm alive. A year ago that was centimeters from not being the case. That I can still pedal a bike or eat solid food or remember the alphabet or breath is all very miraculous to me and I can't begin to express how thankful I am to be able to wake up each morning with my wife and pet me dogs and think about where I might decide to ride that day. I was reading that a high school teacher was killed out west recently while riding. He'd been riding and racing hard and had had an accident a few months back and decided to hang up his cleats. He wanted to go to Nationals once to have that experience. He was hit on July 1st and died over the weekend. That nearly happened to me but for some reason didn't. My prayers go out to the family of Pat Courant and to his students and friends and fellow cyclists.

I rode outside for the first time in a week today after a bevy of trainer rides. It felt really, really good to get out there. I cooked my legs a bit with 55 miles in the Sun but it was good to ride without a lot of pressure to prepare for a race. I was good to suffer not to get better but just to enjoy the sensation. For the next day or so I'm busy but I'll ride a long one on Wednesday and really drink it in. I'll do a epic out at Dauset or somewhere this week and just enjoy the flow of everything.

The Tour resumes tomorrow after the rest day. I write a bit more about Floyd and how he's tougher than any human being alive. The stage is a really, really, really flat one into Bordeaux where the sprinters always reign. I see that no break tomorrow will make it to the end as it's the last day for the sprinters to shine. I see Credit Agricole and Lampre and Rabobank holding it together for their sprinters. I see the World Champion sitting in as he recovers from the disappointment of a half a dozen frustrated sprints. I see McEwen being unstoppable again.

McEwen
Freire
Hushovd
Bennati
Eisel

Talk with you tomorrow.

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