A Message From Abroad

Going forward, I want to start including some posts from people I know who represent the spirit of Semper Porro.  One of those people is an athlete I coach named Bryan Larsen.  He just embarked on a trip to Europe to continue his development as an athlete.  In many ways cycling is a metaphor for life. You push and you struggle and you fight against all the forces that try and hold you back and slow you down.  As with life, cycling is all about endurance.  Being successful means pushing forward day in and day out.  

*urgent knocking on door*
I groan back into consciousness, “yeah?”
“Dude, what time is?!” Eric barges into room.
“um. let me check my phone.” oh wait, i haven’t adjusted time or anything on phone. Time for some early morning math…
“Are we 7 or 8 hours ahead of home? Did we cross the international dateline?! Has daylight savings happened yet?!”
“Is it noon?!”
“OH man, Rodrigo is going to be here for a ride any minute!”
“We slept 16 hours?!”
“Oh man, he’s gonna be soooo pissed…”

Our first full day in the Netherlands started off quite abruptly. Rodrigo, a friend of Eric’s from his previous trips and a teammate on DRC de Mol, showed up soon after. We were running around eating gronola and yogurt while also trying to get dressed. And by the way, getting dressed here takes quite a while as it’s currently between 30-40F*, snowing, and windy. Our first day’s ride to a Cafe in downtown Breda was extremely cold and I found myself wearing every article of warm clothes that I brought with me and I still was FREEZING. After some amazing coffee we straddled our bikes again and kicked off back towards Terheijden, where we are living for the next 3 months. While riding up the bike path, we were faced with a stiff headwind that soon hurt our tired legs. Along with painful legs, the headwind was blowing a jet black cloud towards us at full speed. Soon we were racing back as fast as we could into blistering ice and snow while unable to feel most of our bodies, especially our fingers and toes. We ran inside and turned on the hot water in the sink and submerged our frozen fingers until feeling returned. And on that note, our first official ride in the Netherlands was complete. 

After 16 hours of sleep, as mentioned above, we were off on our second ride. Rodrigo showed us a nice loop where we just spun out our legs. We never stopped once for 2.5 hours. It was a refreshing ride, even if we did get lightly snowed on a couple times. We returned to Rodrigo’s home where we met his wife and young daughter. We had a coffee and biscuit and then finished off our last 10 kms home enjoying a pinch of sunlight.

After those two painful rides, I decided I was going to have to invest heavily in some seriously thermal clothes. So today, we began our adventures at the biggest bike shop I have ever been to in my life. Hoppmans Bike shop was 3 stories tall and took up an entire city block. I was overwhelmed with the endless choices of clothing. The shoe selection alone had to have had close to 50 different types/brands of cycling footwear. After deciding this wasn’t going to be a cheap visit, I decided to go all-in as staying warm here is going to have to be a priority if i’m going to train and race to my fullest potential. I walked away spending 240 Euro that bought me: 1 pair of thermal bib tights, 1 thermal jacket, 1 rain proof/thermal shoe covers, 2x more thick wool socks, 1 pair of wool gloves,
1 thermal beanie/hat, a number holder for my races, and 1 container of Assos chamois cream. While this was a lot of money, I consider all of those things investments that will keep me on track with my goals.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is my first “race”. It’s only a club race but it will be great to open my legs up and have some fun. Sunday however, is a criterium with some cobbles and a small hill each lap. This will most likely be quite a shock to the system. But afterall, a shock is what starts a motor engine.

Until next time, onward and upward.

Follow Bryan Larsen at http://bryanlrsn7.wordpress.com

Holding Steady

     Let's be honest, no one really reads blogs.  Everyone seems to have one, but nobody actually reads them right?  I mean, why would anyone want to read about all those boring mundane details of other people's lives?  My life certainly doesn't have much to offer in terms of plot.  I am not the captain of a crabbing boat in Alaska or a famous soccer player with a pop star for a wife.  My life right now is just a steady grind. I watch my kids, I write, I work on training schedules, I take care of stuff around the house, I teach piano a couple days a week, and I try to fit in anything else that needs to be done in between all that.  In fact, I bet my days are a lot like anyone else's.  I have still have big plans though.  The difference is, now I am investing in other people's success instead of my own.

Cherry Blossoms

     It's a new time in my life - full of growth and possibility.  But the truth is, I find this place in life both terrifying and depressing.  The scary part is having no sense of where I am going.  When I was pursuing cycling I knew exactly what I wanted and where I was going.  Now it feels like I am aiming for a target that I can't even see.  I am certainly trying to push forward.  But I don't know exactly what it is I am pushing towards.   The fact that there is nothing tangible in front of me to pursue also makes me feel a bit useless - like a tool that isn't being used.  I guess I just need to get used to my new role in life.

       Time seems to be moving at a different scale now.  Before, I was so wrapped up in the moment that the years just flew by.  Now I am acutely aware of each day.  Right now it feels like I am just passing time until everything I am working on starts moving forward.  I am waiting for my lawsuit to be wrapped up.  I am waiting for the guys I coach to hit that next level.  I am waiting for my one year old to grow out of the screaming phase.  I am waiting to somehow make sense of the direction I am going in.  I am waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting.  I am so tired of waiting.  I know I am moving forward, but it's different from before.  I miss the freedom of my old life.  I wasn't always going forward, but I was moving.  I guess I just have to be patient.  Sometimes in life you have to slow down in order to really start moving forward.  
       I started teaching my daughter Chloe to play the piano when she turned six.  In the back of my head I have visions of her becoming a singer when she grows up.  Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself, but I figure if I can give her the right tools, then she will at least have options when she gets older.  My parents gave me a lot of opportunities when I was growing up and now I want to do that for my daughters.  Right now, learning the piano is just a grind.  It's not like Chloe is amazingly gifted or anything.  What she does have is a father who can help her learn a valuable skill.  I will see to it that she puts in the hours necessary to be really good.  How many more till she hits 10,000?

     Two of the guys I coach are leaving for Europe today.  I feel like a parent watching their kids go off to college.  I am so nervous.  I wonder, did I give them everything they need?  Did I push them hard enough?  Are they prepared for what's coming?  I can only sit tight and be patient now.  I did the best that I could with the resources I had.  I am not satisfied though - I can do better.  I am more motivated than ever to improve my training tools and resources to be able to help people better.  Right now, I have my sights set on buying a house.  Once I have that I will have a base of operations to work out of.  Of course I can't move forward on buying a house until my lawsuit is finalized.  To be honest I am ready to just be done with the whole process so I can move forward with my life.   

Bryan Larsen attacking at the Tour de Murrietta

       Maybe why I am so anxious right now is because I am holding on to the past.  Wow, can that be true?  Every time I swear I've moved on in life I find myself looking wistfully back over my shoulder.  It's just hard moving on I guess.  These days there doesn't seem to be much freedom or opportunity for fun anymore.  That's just life though.  The older you get, the more tied down you get.  You trade off freedom for security.  Sometimes I wish I could break out of this grind and go do something exciting.  But, I think this place in life is just where I need to be right now.  I've spent enough time being the proverbial Hare. Now it's time to be the Tortoise.
      I think probably the hardest part of being slow and steady is simply appreciating being slow and steady.  The Tortoise may win the race eventually, but the Hare has more fun.  There is nothing fun or exciting about making slow, but steady progress.  I suppose the plot will thicken soon enough.  When that time comes I'll probably wish I had been more prepared.  Hmm.  I guess I better keep working.  

Laguna Beach