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(Here we GO! )

I think we have all heard this before: 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. Cyclist have to put up a lot of work and training in order to get results, but I do feel that a lot of how we do comes from our attitude and how we react to others around us.

I'm trying really hard to adjust my attitude to how I react to people and things around me. As of late, I've been on an attitude roller coaster. I'm thankful for this ride since I was able to put my hands up and reflect on who I am and what I do. I'm a pretty positive person and I try to find the "good" in every situation and I depend on my faith to help me with that a lot. I've been so wishy- washy lately and that is typically not my personality type and it was starting to drive me a bit crazy. Aside from some personal life situations, I've also been a bit up and down on the cycling front, but I've found a nice balance in my recent reflection. My personal life helps me tremendously with my cycling attitude, not the other way around. I am a servant of God, and I believe one of my main purposes of life for Him is to take care of people through anesthesia. My approach to this helps with my cycling... its just hard to put that statement in words.

So back to ride... Last week I received some great leads on a couple personal sponsors for the season that I have been working hard on for a few months now. I'm really thankful for these people taking a look at helping me (you know who you are) and I'm pretty jazzed about representing a few companies this season. Nice! That, along with getting to finally hit the mtb trails on a new S-works 29er, had me on a pretty big high.

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But everything must balance out. The trails had the ankle hurting pretty bad and the nerve pain kept me up at night. This had me questioning weather I should part take in my DRT training camp next week. I'll be honest, pain is a powerful thing, and I'm pretty sick of it at this point. I'm sick of even talking about it. It had me questioning a lot of things in my life and can be a pretty hopeless feeling not ever knowing when it will go away. So I had to do some deciding and after a week of debate, I decided to not be controlled by pain and fear. I didn't want to go to camp or the serc race and be the slowest on the block along with some other fears. Basically, I decided that it didn't matter if I did. I wanted to go to camp with my team and I wanted to have a good time riding some sweet areas in NC.

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So then my powertap decided to die on me. Again, the week before camp, and even though I think it hates me, I don't really care if it does. I know that the info is very valuable for Coach Don, but maybe I just need to ride my bike according to how I feel. I'll admit, I obsess over the numbers, but it will be nice to ride the mountains with out always looking down at the powermeter. I'll spend more time focusing on the view.

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Seems like there is always a balance, life keeps us humble and we choose how to see it. We can't control those around us, only ourselves. I've learned to forgive and I'm working on a couple relationships that are a little fractured from the past and working on building new ones. Even though I don't feel like I was the one in the wrong at times, it doesn't really matter anymore. Why should it matter?

So my season is about to kick up a notch this weekend. I leave for a week long team camp in Brevard, NC Saturday. I may hit the SERC Eastern Championship race on Sunday if the conditions are fair. Nothing like starting your mtb season with a big race. After riding the mountains in NC for a week, I will head down to the panhandle of Florida for a family vacation and flatland riding for another week. Lots of driving, lots of riding! I can't wait. After all my years of racing and riding, my approach is still the same: riding my bike is fun!

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