19733 miles down and only 1629 miles to go

19,733 Miles

Since my first flight to Vegas this season I have traveled 17297 miles by air and 2436 miles by car.  I don't even want to count how many miles I have traveled by bike.  :-)  

As the season wraps up I have so much to be thankful for and so many thoughts running through my head regarding the past 4 months.  I never imagined myself to be in the place I am right now (okay currently I am on an airplane flying back from Hawaii, and I knew I would be here 4 months ago).  4 months ago Cross nationals was not on my calendar, 4 months ago Fort Collins, LA, Louisville, Iowa City, and LA were not on my calendar.  My calendar consisted of Cross Vegas (for the heck of it as a "mini moon"), local races, dreaming of Hawaii, some more local races, and more dreaming of Hawaii.  I think the last thing I remember from the past 4 months is waking up the morning of our wedding.  I hardly remember the day, the night, the next day, Vegas, the following weeks of travel and racing.  As I sit here on the airplane in a completely serene place and fully relaxed I realize my life has literally flashed before me.  Is today seriously Dec. 23rd (yes I realize I will not be posting this today, so it WILL sound a bit dated when you read it).  I haven't thought about anything the past 4 months except for training, racing, and recovering.  I haven't given people the attention they deserve, I haven't been good about replying to my emails, keeping up with my awesome friends, or even listening to a word anyone has been saying.  I have been floating in a cloud in my own little world traveling, racing, working, resting, traveling, racing, working, resting.  What I don't get, is how do people have jobs and function well at their job, let alone race well all the time?  I know a lot of the girls I'm racing against HAVE to have jobs, tell me…tell me the secret of racing, traveling, and working, because come December I was WORN down!  Mentally, physically exhausted.  

Would I take any of this back?  Absolutely not.  Never.  Never would I go to Louisville if it weren't for a bike race.  Never would I have been able to see Colorado if it weren't for a bike race.  Never would I have truly known my full potential as a racer had I not traveled to these races.  I have a number of people to be thankful for all of this.  First off, I'm thankful for my husband who placed the bug in our friends ear.  I'm thankful for our friend at Cliff Bar (I don't like to mention names in my blogs just in case people don't want their name mentioned…so they remain anonymous), because of him I was able to get 3 of the 4 USGP's, entries covered.  He put the bug in other people's ear and rallied the troops for support.  He also put in some $$$ for my funds, which was awesome and covered all my baggage fee's at the airport.  I'm thankful for one of my teammates who rallied other teammates to help.  One teammate used their air miles to get me to and from the USGP's while another teammy pitched in some $$ to help support the cause (again more $$ to cover airline baggage fees and food).  I'm thankful for Mad Fiber, a Seattle based wheel company, for loaning me a set of crazy light carbon tubulars (my first time ever on tubulars).  I'm once again thankful for our Cliff Bar friend who stepped up and sent an email to Redline asking for a little bit of race support for me (and a B bike).  I'm thankful that Redline accepted and offered a B bike and race support at the USGP's and Nationals (which has been HUGE…extra bike, wheels, help).  I'm forever grateful for one of the best members at the BAC for using miles to get me to Nationals (and not to mention to help get me into this whole bike riding business).  If I didn't have such an amazing community of people around me, I wouldn't be where I am (again…not physically) today.  I can't express enough gratitude toward those people and nothing I can do in return will ever let them know how much their efforts (large and small) mean to me.  

So the question now remains "did I gain what I was hoping to gain out of this adventure"?  I sure hope so.  The future looks promising, but until it's set in stone my lips are sealed.  

What did I learn from this experience?  The biggest thing I learned (besides that I can be a head case) is that every race, every travel experience, every moment of this adventure, I'm learning.  I soak it up like a sponge.  Every race I learn something new, heck I learn lots of new things every race.  Never can you master this cyclocross business, because just when you think you know what you're doing, you are thrown a curveball.  I learned that every race can't be your best race, you can't be awesome every time!   learned that I need to work on riding my bike in sand and when you trip on really steep metal stairs…you shoe can break.  I learned that the sport of cyclocross has a lot of depth and a lot of growth (particularly in the women's field).  I feel so lucky to have stumbled upon such an amazing sport.  My first year racing in the big leagues has treated me well, but I'm still a small fish in a large pond, I have lots of growth that needs to be developed, lots of strength that needs to build.  Seeing where I am this season gives me hope for next year, hope that if I actually buckle down and think about "training" I will.  Hope that if I have direction I can only be faster, stronger, and better.  

One last race left this season, Nationals.  I go into nationals quite rested, I just took a 2 week honeymoon in Hawaii, hopefully I didn't get too fat and out of shape.  From now until when I leave, I focus on training, getting in some quality "training" so I can be the best I can be at nationals!!

And now here I am...January 4th posting my blog post.  ENJOY MY FRIENDS.  I told you it wouldn't be posted on the 23rd.