Starting Again
One concept that is pretty familiar to every competitive cyclist is starting again. There are always set-backs to any grand plan and some re-adjustment needs to occur or sometimes you don't quite meet your goal, so it's back to the drawing board to reassess and give it another go. I've observed this in a few occurrences this year.
There have been many failed Everesting attempts that I have read blogs on that have outlined the journey, what they did to prepare, how they went on the attempt, where things started to go wrong and the final decision to pull the pin. Some re-attempt, or try another hill or find another challenge.
I've been involved in and watched massive pile-ups in the National Road Series this year. Coming back from injury is only one part of the equation that is pretty logical, the other part is the mental toughness and psychology behind putting yourself back into race mode, putting yourself back into the danger zone.
This year has been a total rollercoaster for me. Unlike every other year I have raced, I haven't achieved ANYTHING of note on the bike. My biggest victory was a C-Grade Vets win over the guys in Bacchus Marsh. Between, my initial crash in Jan I've been continually sick, so I've focused on work to the point of relocating for 3 months and totally losing all momentum and base I had one the bike.
So, I'm starting again. I've just come out of successful sinus surgery this week. I'll have a few weeks off the bike to recover that I will not fill with work and extra stress and I'm starting from scratch.
I've got all the baggage of winter weight, sickness, failed attempts, crashing, travel and the passage of time to overcome. Not to mention a new home base suburb to find bunch rides to join in Melbourne again!
I haven't set an end goal yet or even my first target, I'm doing that over the next few weeks. But I genuinely do look forward to starting again.
