The Long Shot

The theory of evolution states that only the strong will survive, but the theory of competition says just because they are the “best” does not mean that they can’t get their asses kicked. What every long shot, come from behind underdog will say is that the results of competition don’t always add up. Sometimes passion and determination has a way of beating logic. Once the race starts it doesn’t matter what the experts say or what the odds are against you are there is always a way to overcome any and all doubt against, you or your team. What if the likes of Muhammad Ali who was the biggest underdog in boxing history in his first fight against Sonny Liston for the Heavyweight Championship of the World. Or even Tom Brady who was the 206^th pick in the NFL Draft and so many more. What if they listened to the critics and said to themselves “They are right I can't do it.” The world would be a much different place now. That’s what gets me up in the morning and on that bike. In the rain, snow, heat, injured. Every morning when I wake up I read all the emails I got from teams that said I wasn’t good enough or didn’t have enough experience for the pro races etc etc. It’s that feeling of “maybe no one wants me.” That’s what gets me fired up and up in the morning. Thats what keeps me motivated and driven, No matter what! There is one person that can say I am not good enough, it’s not the team directors or coaches…it’s ME and trust me that day is not even close.  

Passion and Glory

There are many traits that people can have that make their dreams come true. For me Passion is that trait. To have passion means that you are deeply committed and also highly motivated to make something that seems impossible made possible over time.

          I have this passion for riding my bike everyday for as long as I can no matter if it is scorching hot, freezing cold or just raining all day long. Sometimes goals are not easy to obtain and you need that drive or passion to get to that end goal. You have to have that need to get to that end goal. There are very few people who see my races and see me succeed, but even those people who do watch me race don’t know the kind of effort that I put in to get to that point. During training I am 100% committed to the task at hand and nothing or nobody is going to tell me that I can’t get to that end goal. My coach will tell me to do two hours on the bike and I end up doing three and a half to four hours. Or if I have a gym workout I will do extra core workouts or a few extra reps in a set. You need to have that “chip” on your shoulder that very few people have. I think that you need to be doubted for a long time to get that chip on your shoulder. People like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Muhammad Ali all were doubted and they have shown us and proved us wrong time and time again. Its people like that have shown us that you can’t measure the will of the man and the heart of a man off of statistics or physical features.

          For me Glory drives me. I remember qualifying for Collegiate Nationals last year and I was so excited, happy and nervous to be there and I worked my ass off to get to that point and I was in the perfect position going up the first climb and then BOOM my legs just felt empty…and I remember thinking there is no way I can feel like this now…It was an emptiness I have never felt since or after that race. I believe it was nerves and every time I went to the feed zone I felt embarrassed for myself, my team and my family. Before I dropped out I told myself that I am going to show everybody who is going to win next year and as I saw the winner go through the finish line what I said to myself earlier was just eating at me and eating at me and to this day still motivates me to be better than I was. It is Glory that drives me.

I’m Gonna Show You How Great I Am

So it has been a very long time since I have posted on my blog. The last race I talked about was the first collegiate race of the season. I have had so many ups and downs since then. I mean it would make the Alps and Pyrenees seem flat. My next race I believe I got 4^th in; another long breakaway in very rainy conditions and from there my collegiate season went downhill very fast. Getting sick, and breaking my derailleur hangar an hour before the conference championships. Straining my hamstring and burning out right before Collegiate Nationals. Since then I had raced all of 8 miles at U23 Nationals before going to the hospital (thankfully everything was okay). After that I took a little break and got myself motivated to start racing again. The Nashville Cyclist Crit Series gave me the opportunity to race myself back into shape and got some solid results out of it. My last road race of the year was up at Oak Ridge where I got into the winning break for 65 miles before bonking. In the middle of all of that I transferred schools. I am attending Cumberland University on a cycling scholarship. This is easily the best choice that I could have made. I have surrounded myself with a great coach and great teammates who I enjoy training and hanging out with off the bike as well.

 After what I thought was my best season yet it apparently wasn’t good enough. After getting rejection after rejection from every team I applied too; I set out my goals for the following season: I’m gonna show them how great I really am. I am going to train harder and smarter. Sacrifice whatever I have to in order to prepare myself, mentally, physically and psychologically to achieve my goals for my upcoming season. You can say I am going to go down the road less traveled because that is what it takes in order to make your dreams into reality, because nothing worthwhile is ever easy to accomplish. You have to be willing to do what the normal person is not. But most importantly you have to believe in yourself. It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. Just do what you know you have to do.

First collegiate race of the season.

This past weekend was our first collegiate race and it went very well for the most part. Saturday started out with the team time trial. That was the first time that Corey, Marshal, Bryan and I did a team effort like that in a race. We did fairly well not as well as we would have liked, but it was a start. Then in the afternoon we had the road race which was 70 miles. The plan was for Corey and me to attack from the start and try to stay away. It didn’t work quite like that. I got into the break a mile into the race with about seven guys in which one of them races of the Bissell Pro team and a few other domestic pros.  I just kept telling myself that I worked so hard this past winter and that I can hang with these guys. It hurt like hell, but I did it. About two laps after a small group caught us and luckily for me Corey was in it now I had a teammate. With about 30 miles left I started to cramp and started to struggle. I kept fighting through the pain and trying to stay with the group. Since this was my first race in a Brevard Kit I wanted to do something special. Around twenty miles left our group started to stop working together and five riders got away. At that point I was completely pinned and could not counter any moves. As we approached the last lap I was completely shot. By this time both of my legs we cramping and I had to pour water on them so I could keep them from cramping. With about a mile and a half and guy from Cumberland attacked on a little climb and I got within twenty yards of catching his wheel, but I was spent. We hit the last 200 meters and Corey started his sprint with me on his wheel and he finished right in front of me with both of us in the top 10.  It was a pretty fast race with us averaging over 25.5 mph.  

The second day on Sunday we had another road race which would test everybody’s fitness level. The race was 80 miles with the course rolling the entire time. The beginning of the race was insanely intense with tons of attacks. I attacked and counter attacked so much and with my legs tired after a hard day in the break the day before I wasn’t feeling 100%. With about 40 miles left somebody countered my move and 15 riders got up the road. I was at my limit and couldn’t make the break. With Corey in the break it was my job to slow my chase group down so his break could stick. At that moment I thought the best I could get was maybe 20^th place. But everybody in the break started to get shelled and the chase group starting picking riders up and with two laps left I could get 8^th or 9^th place. On the last lap Matt from Cumberland University attacked and I followed it along with a guy from the college of Charleston and we hammered the last ten miles averaging over 30 mph. The chase group was trying so hard to catch us, but we opened the lead to about two minutes. My legs have never hurt that bad in my life, I just kept telling myself to keep going and not to give up. I just kept suffering and every pull I took hurt worse and worse and with a mile left I knew we were going to stay away and now I was going for 7^th place. Right before the home stretch there was a little climb and the guy from Charleston attacked and I was completely spent and was just trying to catch his wheel. My quads and calves were like knots with 200 meters left and luckily I held off Matt who finished right behind me. So I finished in 8^th place and somehow Scott got a gap on the field and got 11^th place which was amazing and also Bryan and Marshal hanging in there to get in the top 20. Corey stayed with the main group and got 6^th place, an awesome result for us.  All around it was a very successful weekend with also our B riders getting a few top ten in their first collegiate race. This race shows that we as a team have a lot of potential to do great thing for the rest of the season.

New Year...New Approach

2011 will be the year in which I prove everybody that has believed in me right and the ones that didnt believe in me wrong. I promised myself this as soon as my coach and I worked on my training plan months ago. I was going to work 100% and not have any regrets when I stand on the start line at Collegiate Nationals a few months from now. In the past I would have doubts in my training. I would think I should have done more to prepare for this race. Rarely getting past 16 hrs on the bike. This season I have a new approach. I am willing to do everything the right way. I have had to make a ton of sacrifices, but in the end I believe it will be worth it. This new approach is not just physical, but mental. I have been training my mind to block out all negative talk and feedback that I may get from from a workout, race and people. I believe that the mind is the hardest part of the body to train because it takes hours and hours of concentrating and most Americans today give up if they dont get positive feedback right away. I am hoping all this hard work will pay off and I will be able to get to the start in May not only physical prepared, but mentally as well.