Day 1 of 28? Huh? what happened

Well, this one is really quick & easy to explain. I fell off the wagon.

So, today was Day 1 of 28 again. A quick hit out this morning. It included 2 mountains, rain, thick fog, a little sunshine, rain, one tosser driver & 198kms later I was home.

My favourite cafe, on the top of Mount Nebo, is closing down for 2 months over June & July. The two owners are traveling overseas. They had a management team organised for the 2 months but this just fell through a few days ago.

No decent excuse to stop for a rest on top of this mountain now :-(

Oh, while I type about my not so important day there are many in SE Queensland & Northern NSW that are getting smashed with a huge amount of flooding due to rain, strong wind damage & to top it off there is a very serious warning of a huge tidal surge that will more than likely cause much more damage & flooding along the coast. Keep safe everyone!

Day 3 of 28

Today is day 3 of 28 days in a row. Why? because I read somewhere it takes 28 days to learn a new habit. I have been so slack & out of routine in the past 2 months I am disappointed in myself.

It is time to "get back in the saddle' in many areas of my day.

Merida 24 hour...Race day!

It is my belief that I am always ready to ride a 24 hour mountain bike race. Sometimes I am just more ready than others. Upon reflection, I don't know any race I have ever been as ready for as I wanted to be.

I work a 40-55 hour week, have the pleasure of having my two sons 1/2 the week every week, I get sick, occasionally sleep... & amongst that lot & much more I squeeze in between 10-20+ hours of training a week. I kind of figured a 24 hour race had me covered for a few days off the bike this week hehehe...

I arrived at Hiddenvale in SE Queensland on the Saturday morning. This is one of my favourite things about racing, I caught up with lots of really good people & met some new ones.

As I was wondering around I saw Tim Bennett. What a great surprise. Then Jo Bennett...Nick Both...Adrian Jackson...Paul Traynor. It was awesome to see these guys again. It is the same crew that I met & did a small amount of peloton time with on the 2008 Croc Trophy. A really good team of people. They were very supportive of me on the 2008 CT & continued this support on the track for the Merida 24 hour. Thanks everyone!



I am not too much into long winded, lap for lap race reports.

My 9 yr old son was my support person. My pre-race breifing to the dude was "Hand me a biddon & some different food each time. Here is some cash, be sure to get yourself some dinner, breakfast from the BBQ & as many hot chocloates as you like from the coffee van. Brush your teeth..." you guys know the rest.



I rolled through the transition at about 11pm & past my marquee. Ty was all tucked up asleep on a camp chair in the very cold, damp evening air. "Ty, wake up! go to the tent with the matress, sleeping bag, doona, pillow." Off he went. He toughted it out for 11 hours & was that committed he was still trackside! I didn't see him until the sun popped up the next day. Then he started his job again. He was a legend of a support person. Not one winghing word all weekend.


Needless to say, it was only natural he shared the second step of the podium with me. Proud Dad moment.


Tailwind Promotions Peter Creagh (aka Cranky) Hayden Brooks (Kiwi) & his lovely wife Fluer along with the others I don't know put on an awesome event. It had a really good feel about the event all weekend. Nice work everyone.

Excuses

I had a fascinating conversation with a woman that is doing her PHD on what makes athletes crack under pressure. It brought to the surface an area in my training that I can improve. She has competed at National & International level Kayaking & continues to be a 'smash 'em' adventure racing athlete.

How many times have you showed up to a ride or race & asked someone "so how are you feeling today" then it starts. Also, how many times have you been approaching an event & your training partner say about 1 or 2 weeks out, "my knee is starting to play up, training too hard, still doing base miles, injured, sick, tired, haven't been training. The list is endless.



It is my belief that we place pressure on ourselves & these reasons/excuses are a back door escape route in preparation for what we believe to be non-performance on the day.



So here is an open invitation, send the reasons/excuses you have used or heard. I am looking forward to compiling a list of them under this heading. I will keep updating this heading as they roll in. Not just pre bike race ones, these reasons/excuses extend into our everyday lives. I am keen to hear them all.