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

Monday, October 06, 2003

Nicked Up

In football terms, the idea of being "nicked up" means that you've got a bunch of nagging little injuries that don't keep you from playing but hinder your ability to perform at your best. Over the last five or so weeks I've gotten pretty nicked up as a cyclist. It started in Savannah with the century there. I rode hard on a very hot day and I think I began to take a lot out of myself. Later that week I went to Camp Thunder for a training ride on the Man 'O War and crashed several times. Big hematoma on the backside, lots of blood on the legs and all the rest. On that Saturday I was at Carter's Lake for a GAP series race and I crashed about six times trying to descend (something I'm not too good at). More blood, more sore muscles. I try to spend some time recovering with slow rides the next week but that weekend was the Barnesville Omnium. Three road races in one weekend. I won the time trial and took sixth in the road race but got shelled in the crit. I took sixth in the omnium which was great for my first Cat 4 race but I was getting tired. The following weekend I raced my MTB in Savannah (I know, I know-how do you have a mountain bike race in Savannah). I was strong but on the first lap I took a thorn in my front tire and it started going soft on me. I endoed four times during the race on my way to finishing sixth. Sigh. Last week I decided it was time to spin and heal. The whole week was given over to recover rides. I did great until Friday were I was doing a few sprints to get ready for the GAP race in Gainesville this last weekend. I shifted at the wrong time and threw my chain. That, in turn, threw me. Fortunately I landed at 25 mph on my back in the grass. No real damage done but I did ring my bell a bit and strained muscles in my neck. Saturday I went to G-ville, raced and because of a terrible start, again finished fifth. I felt great on the ride but I couldn't get through traffic fast enough to make up the time I lost at the start.

A month of racing and race training have taken their toll. I'm tired all the time and I'm making more mistakes than I should. My legs are all scratched up and a lot of different muscles hurt in a lot of different places. Still though, I had to ride through the little things. I may not have finished as well as I had hoped in a lot of my races, but I did finish each one and I'm still holding a slim lead in the overall standings for the GAP series. It will all come down to a last race at the end of this month. Win or lose, I can be pleased that I hung in there and fought it out through the entire month.

Life is like that too. Sometimes I don't always do the best I can do, but the important thing is to hang in there. Sometimes in life we get nicked up and beaten down a little bit. A lot of people decide at that moment that whatever it is they're trying to achieve is not worth it and give up. What they really need to do is weather the storm and get to a point where they can get some recovery time. Then they heal and learn and start training for the next test and challenge.

That's what the next three weeks are for me. Recovery this week and then training to peak. I want to be at my best form for this last race of the season. I may not win but it won't be because I gave up. In any case, I plan to bring my A games to the Heritage Farms finale on Sept 26. I'll have recovered from my bumps and bruises and I'll have ramped up my fitness one last time for the season. I'll be ready and rested, toned and trained. I will have practiced descending until I can do it with some confidence and I'll work on getting better on my starts so I don't have to fight my way through half the field on narrow single track or up rooted climbs. I'll be ready to compete and to challenge.

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