My thoughts on New Year's resolutions

It's a little funny that I'm posting about resolutions when it's almost Feburary and many people have already given up on their resolutions.

I've never really been a fan of New Year's resolutions.  I saw from a young age how infrequently people were successful with their New Year's resolutions, whether it is losing weight, getting in shape, quitting smoking, or other things.  It's the YMCA effect, they Y is super busy in January because people are all excited about getting in shape and losing weight, but gradually (or frequently quickly) how those new people stop going to the Y to exercise.

I think many times people try to make resolutions that are dramatic changes from what they are currently doing.  I think a much better approach is too make regular small sustainable changes that you can successfully accomplish.

Many people that make a New Year's resolutions of getting in shape will try to go all out and not eating any junk food or candy and trying to exercise everyday . . .this is almost certainly a recipe for failure you'll almost certainly go back to some of your old habbits at some point, feel like you've failed, and give up.  We are creatures of habbit and once we start doing things regularly it's hard to change that.  Instead I'd recommend making a couple small stustainable changes to start with; for example: exercising two times a week and only have fast food 3 time a week (instead of 5 or 6 times).  You'll be much more motivated to continue to your goal if you are able to succeed, even if it's a smaller acheivement.

Then once your new behavior has become a habbit for you and isn't too difficult look at what you're doing and pick a couple new things to improve on, maybe reducing the amount of soda you drink and walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator.  These small changes will add up and it won't feel hard or that you're having to make big sacrifices.

For 2013 I'm planning on making a couple small resolutions every month, that will help me get faster.  My January resolutions were to eat more vegestalbes and work on being able to do track stands.  I've been successful at getting much better at both, which is really cool.  For Febuary my resolutions are to always have healthy snacks available to eat at work and get better at bunny hopping.
 

Short Track Race #3

What a difference a week can make. . . After a race that I wasn't very happy with even though I placed well (but felt slow).  After warming up got to the start, a pretty big field 17 experts (7 of which were from BikeSource) and 12 super sport (who would go off one minute after the experts).  Lined up in middle of the front row.  Got a bad start and went into the woods (probably 6 or 7).  Even though this wasn't what I was hoping for, I stayed calm and just rode in the position I was in since there's no where to pass (at least safely) unless someone is letting you by.

Once we finished the single track section and popped back out into the open I was able to get around a couple guys through the first gravel road section and was able to into to get into 3rd a couple seconds behind Matt Moosa and Robert Fish (two fellow BikeSource guys).  I was able to close back onto the two of them by the end of the second lap.  The three of us continued riding together (alternating who was leading each lap), and gradually openned up a gap on the rest of the field until the 5th lap where Matt upped the pace and Robert and I stayed together, we both knew that we couldn't pick up it up to the pace Matt was going. 

Robert and I continued riding together, swapping back and forth who would lead each lap.  Last week I never once caught up to lapped riders in the woods (when I caught up to them they were always on the open section where passing was easy).  Unfortunately the opposite seemed to be the case during this week's race, over the last handful of laps we caught up to several groups of riders just entering the woods. 

I was hoping I would be able to open a little bit of a gap on Robert during the last lap in the woods, but we were stuck behind slower traffic and just had to follow through the woods.  I continued to lead Robert as we came out of the woods, about half way through the open section Robert put in a surge and was able to open a small gap.  Unfortunately I couldn't get back into his draft and he kept maybe and 10 meter gap, even as we sprinted through the finish line.

While I finished third (jut like last week) I felt so much better about how I rode than I did last week.  Overall I was super happy with how I rode, it was too bad that I didn't out-sprint Robert for second.  But I felt much fast and better all through the race.  I've tried to think what I did differently between the two races and there really wasn't that much that I did before or during the two races that was too much different.  The short track series will take a week off before the next race on February 9th.

Photo courtesy of Paul Cunningham

Results Expert results down almost all the way down

 

Short Track Race #2

Did my first short track race of the year (it was the second short track race of the year, but I didn't do the first one).   Felt pretty good going into the race, both in regard to my fitness and to my handling:  I had ridden the course enough that I was comfortable on it.  I was nervous heading into the race, really because I was worried, but because I always get a little nervous for the first race of a season or series.

Lined up in the middle of the front row, and got into the wood behind Matt Moosa (one of four other teammates in the race, BikeSource was pretty well represented in the expert race).  Matt finished third last week even though he had to stop twice to pump up his rear tire that had lost some air.  Felt really good the first lap and was able to stay close to Matt.  Matt was able to slowly pull away from me on the second, I just couldn't keep on his rear wheel. 

On about the 4th lap Bobby Bryson (another fellow BikeSource rider) caught up to me and pulled in front of me.  Unfortunately I just couldn't stay on his wheel through the technical section, and unfortunately he pulled away from me on flats and I just wasn't able to pull him back.  Two-thirds of the way through the race Rick Pyle pulled even with me, but I was able stay in front of him through the finish.

Matt and Bobby both had great races and were just faster than me (both through the technical section and the flats).  Matt even put in a super fast lap on his last lap, going about as fast as he and I went on our first lap, which is super impressive.  I wasn't super happy with my race as a whole, but I can't be unhappy finishing 3rd.  It was also super cool to sweep the podium with Matt and Bobby, guys I've been racing with for the last four years when we were all racing sport call, now to sweep an expert race really is cool.

Thank you Wayne Holden for the pictures

Results

 

Mark Cavendish's new bike

Here's what Mark Cavendish will bike sprinting on this coming year, Cyclingnews has a nice article and more pictures:

He'll be riding a Specialized S-works McLaren Venge (the name's long, but the bike is crazy fast, not to mention it will have the fastest road racer in the world aboard).  Unlike in the last couple years where he's been riding Di2, this year he'll be Sram Red, it's always interesting to check out his bike because he values stiffness much more than weight and he has typically used a "heavy" (at least by the standards of the pro pelaton).  It looks like the bike displayed is pretty stock, it'll be interesting to see if there's any small components changes when it comes to the when he's racing on it.

RIP. . . Burry Stander

It's unfortunate that this is the topic for my first blog post back after a bit of a break.  Burry Stander (top 10 mountain biker in the world) died about a week and a half after being hit by a taxi while training in his home country of his South Africa.  For some reason it is even sadder that he was killed on a road bike than if he died while mountain biking, I'm not entirely sure why, maybe because it's some how more senseless, or not so directly tied to what he was so good at.  Either way it's very sad to see.  I never met Burry, but I've always gotten the sense in reading stories that he was involved in that he was a genuinely nice guy, which seems to be supported by the stories that have followed his death.  It has certainly made me think about about my mortality after his death, but after thinking about it, my belief that there is inherent risk in simply living (it's probably more likely that I'll die in a car accident than I will as a result of mountain biking, for example), and that you should be aware of these risks, but you can't let reasonable risks paralyze you into not doing things you enjoy (especially if they're good for your overall health), has only been strengthened.  It certainly also illustrates that life is precious and can be fleeting and that it should be cherished and enjoyed.