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Whether you are an artist or an economist, a creator or an organizer, you've probably come to the realization that making a daily reflection, regardless of one's choice of media, is an important step in reaching one's goals or perhaps more importantly, embracing the journey toward said goals.  By providing an outlet to reflect upon the struggles of today, one can build an environment in which progressive perspectives can develop in the days that follow; who knows what you'll come up with!


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Oneness

Buy It!

This past autumn, in the midst of expanding Toque Torque Coaching and launching the BIKES program into the stratosphere (with the help of many of course), my evenings were spent discovering Lance Secretan's Castle Principles of attaining oneness as a leader and a person. Centered around creating a life and an experience that you want, the castle principles: courage, authenticity, service, truthfulness, love and effectiveness, connected with me immediately. Since I was spending a lot of effort during that time period "putting myself out there", I was able to review and change my outlook quickly and test it when I visited with new groups of students, teachers or coaching clients. I found immediate success, the direction of my training, my projects and my goals seemed to come into alignment. That which was left over was quickly disregarded as I focused my energy on doing the small things right. Enjoying the present moment.

A recent movie helped stir up my reflections of Secretan's book. I hope you make time to enjoy both this short video and Lance's book found here at Amazon. My favourite passage from his book covers an altercation with one of his corporate clients. After reviewing the status of his client's quarterly report, Lance addresses the board with suggestions based upon his CASTLE principles. One particular board member however became irate that to believe such abstract suggestions would prove fortuitous was an insult to his intelligence and a waste of his companies money and time. His scathing demeanor created an ominous stillness over the board room. Lance's reply...."Can you say what you just said inspiringly " The response from the boardroom...you'll have to read the book!

OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo.

Chase to burn

Source

It is fast, furious, probably against the law and pretty ridiculously stupid if you ask 99.9% of the world but wow does motor-pacing make you a fast bicycle pedaler. In fact I have a track cycling friend who is racing the long-lost art of derny racing this weekend in Berlin. During the scratch races on the velodrome, each cyclist is paired with a special motor bike and experienced driver. The first motor / bicycle combination over the line wins! It is a part of Europe's indoor winter 6-day circuit. Here are a few videos.


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Foreign Roads

Source

Embracing the foreign cracks, tight bends and unrelenting pitches of the winding pavement ahead, I brace my heaving chest over the rain-soaked handlebar. My breath mists out in front as a new extension of the dense fog clinging to the mountain side. Past the point of no return, the late afternoon light is fading, as is the energy in my legs.

The timer on my interval split time says I can stop my interval, my work day complete but there is more to climb, more to explore. Should I taper it back and enjoy the new road while enjoying the satisfying sensation of another workout complete or do I keep pedaling, using the unknown distance to the crest as a carrot, pulling my legs over the cranks, pushing for more.

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Mucus Man and Motor Bikes

Attack of the mucus man! It's time to get behind than motor bike and pedal like a banshee. Head half-cocked, breathing heavily and hands firmly clasped to the hoods, my rear wheel hovers inches from the tail of the scooter. A small hill...."get on the gas before the moto!" A small descend is coming...which means this crest is going to tip the speeds back up..."out of the saddle and pedal dude!" Dailing in the intensity, I raise a hand off the bars to indicate to my driver a change in speed. Like the evil emperor of long-forgotten Rome, I indicate my own fate with a thumbs up or a thumbs down, one half of my conscious pushing the limits of my body without remorse for the poor sucker who is going to be asking for a drop in speed only minutes down the road. Oh the beauty of speed.
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Finding your voice

"Cultivate the strength you need to access 

the courage that is already inside"

Since I started my recent adventures working with the students of the BIKES program,  the question of "how do you become successful" has come up a lot, but I don't find this as great news. It seems that even at their young age, some students already seem daunted by the insurmountable chore of becoming "successful". But what is success? What is happiness? And why are we all so worried about NOT getting there.

A fellow Whitman College alumni and cycling team member, Cammie, who rode with me during my first 'long' training ride back in 2007 and was a close collegiate teammate of Mara Abbott, recently wrote an exceptional reflection on her own experience in finding her voice, isolating her intent and discovering success by pursuing only that which SHE cared about.


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Small Goals...Not Resolutions

Mt. Taranaki with music from JSparls

Resolutions are for those who lack the courage to change today. It is silly. The natural order of change is to do just that! CHANGE! To undergo metamorphosis. Yes, it often means that in the process you discard that which is no longer useful, but no where does the word change or metamorphosis indicate that we have to wait until tomorrow, or next year to begin!

The fear of the unknown and fear of loss is what holds us in violent patterns of consistency. The beauty of change resides in its spontaneity, its lack of reason (or reasons we cannot comprehend at the given moment) and its often rejuvenating nature (to those listening).


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Get it done

Source: Cycling Year Round Blogpost

Everyone says...just deal with it. It makes you tough. You'll be better off during the April Spring Series. You'll have an edge at every rainy race. The group riders will think you're a badass. Or if not, at least you think you are! Ride in the rain, snow, sleet, thunderstorms, tornadoes....get nuts!

Whow Ace....chill out. Inclement weather is just that, so respect it. But let's take the ego out of the equation. Like this group of kids in Calgary. They ride to school because they like to ride their bikes. Period.

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Rediscovery

Epiphanies through adversity

It's dark, raining, cold, and slippery, but instinct is conquering habit so I keep pedaling.  Bright reds and whites glare off the glossy black of the surface out ahead of my handlebar spotlight. Shoulders hunched up close to my ears, forehead tipped down slightly, I squint my eyes away from the beating raindrops. 

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Thunderous Call Ups

Gastown GP

December 11th, 2011:  After a long but "interesting" day on the Greyhound bus, I arrived back in Canada after 2.5 months of hard zone 2 training in Walla Walla, Washington. Although not quite home, staying the night in Vancouver on a friend's couch, I head down to the coffee shop to find some internet.  Breathing in the fresh winter air and squinting against the rising but low-angled sun, my 'greyhound' lungs clear and my eyes gently tear.  Starting to feel human again now two days after my last real training session, I'm optimistic that I can bounce back from tomorrow's dental surgery. It will be an operation that will pull me off the bike for 3 weeks, an operation that has single-handedly structured my entire off-season. My career depends how well I come back from tomorrow and how efficiently I can regain my fitness in January.

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Home Race

Vancouver, BC

I've been extremely fortunate to race at many different venues across North America over the past 3 years, but there is something special when the ones you care about the most are right there on the sidelines. Instead of guestimating the intensity of the closing laps, the thunderousness of the crowd's cacophony, or the oppressive heat of the sun through the wonderful albeit stifled experience that is online-streaming and/or television coverage, a home race provides the chance to connect and translate just how amazingly complex and interesting this whole sporting thing can be. It makes you want to push the limits even further.


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Target Races

Boise Exergy Twilight: July 14th 2012.
Photo Courtesy of Manual For Speed

If we don't win,....well I don't want to think about that. All that matters is that we put on the biggest show the Exergy Twilight race has ever seen. We just need to get it done. Whether than means we have to put ourselves in harms way, give so much that it'll take days to recover, or pour everything into split-second decisions made with limited information, now is the time. Today is the day that the team's been planning for, talking about and also dreading since the first day at training camp. Today is Team Exergy's home criterium race in Boise, Idaho, now sponsored by the team's title sponsor Exergy Development Group.


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2012 Canadian Track Nationals

Sun sets on 2012 racing

Well that didn't go as well as I hoped! This week's 2-day Omnium event was the first real disappointing event of racing for me this entire season so I guess it's a sign that it's time to shut it down for the year. Of course that was the plan but it would have been nice to experience some good sensations for just one more week; last week in Quebec City at the Pro Sprint Challenge I felt on the top of my game.

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Sunsets

False Creek Sunset: Link

Evening coolness,

Jersey flapping.

Tranquil spinning,

Absolute calm.

Dip behind a stroller,

Swerve around a runner,

Dodge a fortune teller,

Get dusted by a commuter.

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Rainy Sunglasses

Out from under the soaked brim, my ill-chosen sunglasses darken the dim daylight further. Shielding my eyes from the unwelcome spray of a closely passing semi-truck, my dense gloves grip my rain-washed handlebars, stiffly steering my black tire and front wheel on a path forwards and to the right in anticipation of the "suction" wind gust. 

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A Throw of the Dice

For months we spend our time carefully crafting training plans, preparing post-ride meals and maintaining our space-age machines after battle with winter's wet. Every day our season approaches faster and faster, our first 'Monument' faster. It seemed like October only yesterday; April, a distant future. 

Now, after our director orchestrates the day's tactics and the commissaire drops the neutral flag, the day is here, the day is now. We trade that all-encompassing focus for every element of our training and recovery, tunneling all of our energy on only that which will get us to the finish line fastest and in front of those who we now ride with.  Like when shocked into an emergency state where only one thing can and should be thought of, the present moment, nothing outside the barrier-lined parcour penetrates our over-stimulated minds. 

A deep breath, relax into this moment's stress. Attention, affection, appreciation, acceptance. Enjoy one's own acknowledgement that the dice are airborne. That disaster may strike at any moment, that doors may open and close in front without a moment's notice . However it is in this place, this present moment where anything can happen that opportunity presents itself.  Do we go full throttle now? Is this our moment? Or do we holster it and wait for a more opportune moment down the road? However betting on a future opportunity conflicts with one's newly adopted state in the present. It is now that we must go. We must risk everything now. We must roll the dice now and worry about the next lap, day, month, year when that time comes. For it is only what we do in this present moment that matters. 

Besides if we are really prepared to go full throttle but the opportune moment has arrived sooner than expected, shouldn't we be able to adapt and deploy immediately? Now? 

React. Race. Relish this moment now and relive it for years to come.

In Heat

Manual For Speed @Tumblr: The guys asked me to write something about racing in extreme heat, like last year's Tulsa Tough. Also, be sure to go to the above link as there is a whole host of content there on the tumblr account that resides outside the ideals of the Manual For Speed = cool stuff projected in different ways. Enjoy.

Manualforspeed.tumblr.com

Morning Spin
Manual For Speed Tumblr
Oppressive Dew, Defy
Lethargic Mope, Hydrate
Sleepy Eyelids, Coffee
Tired Legs, Back to Bed


Full Throttle
Fired Eyes, Blinding UVs
Easy Breathing, Open Capillaries
Swollen Feet, Aching Toe Nails
Grippy Gloves, Protecting Palms
Skin Tightens, Veins Surface
Heart Beat Hastens, Fuel-Injection
Exhale Shortens, I NEED MORE AIR!
Tongue Parched, Where is my soigneur?
Recollect, Evaluate
Find Teammates, Discuss
Move Forward, Control
Match Opponents, Then Attack


Après Victory
Sticky Chamois, Wet Wipes
Sunscreen Slime, Shower
Blood Sugar Crash, Iced Coke
Ninety Minute Sauna; Drained.

The Business #2: A Day at Camp

Music

Rise: Fresh, cool sea air brushes up against my face; my body warmly tucked underneath a mammoth of blankets. Holding my breath, studying my cellphone clock, I take my morning heart rate while lying prone. Thirty eight today, not too tired, not too rested; good, great for day 7 of camp. After quietly leaving the motorhome, careful not to wake my teammates, I cook my quinoa and egg breakfast in the kitchen. Over the next 30 minutes, my teammates slowly file in, some more quiet than others...who will be strong today? Each goes about making their lunch, fixing their breakfast and bantering with one another about yesterday's ride. 

Pre-Ride: Forty five minutes till departure, I rest in my bed to help digestion and practice a little meditation. I plug in my favourite music and relax. Beyond this auditory barrier, our seigneurs busily rush around the house and driveway, preparing 5-10 bottles per rider, packing bags of bananas, coolers of coke cola, boxes of tin-foil clad lunches into the Mini Cooper and the Volvo. They align our bikes in perfect formation against the wall lining the back of the driveway, our seats in a circle around a table filled with gels, bars and apples. Our mechanic touches up on any of the tasks that slipped his long list the night before, making sure the tires are pumped to 115-120PSI, the handlebar tape is clean and our top-tubes are clear of snot and drink mix from the day before. Every day it feels like we ride a brand new bike.

Brief: In a circle the riders relax in blue pop-up 'sofas', a white pop-up tent shades the sun; our Director calls attention to the route, safety concerns, planned stops and any structured efforts. "Today is our final big day of camp. 180km. 12,000-15,000 ft of climbing (no one has done the ride before). We have Heybuckshot here..so don't smile when they take your picture. Stay as a group up all the climbs, except the final one. Make it hard, it's a race ya?" We are up and we are off. Check your brakes, check your skewers, check your headset. Then the plastic cleat covers come off, we shove them into our 'car' bags (our KASK helmet bags with a makeshift name tag which include our special food, special bottles and extra arm warmers and gloves) and hand them off to the seigneurs as we ride past the cars at the end of the driveway. 

Commute: Rushing down onto the 16-28% descent, adrenaline starts its morning drip. Flying down towards the Ventura valley floor, the sun warmly bakes our arms and chest, protected by black rainjackets. The jackets will come off in 20 minutes, so will the thick gloves and knee warmers. This is our commute. We try to stay comfortable during our commute, because we know that before long the day will start, the horn will honk, the bell will whistle, the pace will go up, the tailwind will die out, the road will tip up, and we will follow the double yellow line until told otherwise.

The Business #1: The Arrival

Well we are at camp! AND IT IS AWESOME!! We have just met our new seigneur, Bob, and he rocks! Our new Director Sportifs Gary and Ken have also arrived; both bringing a wealth of knowledge, experience and worry-free laid back but business attitude that bolsters the confidence of every one involved in the Team Exergy "totally crush" 2012 project.

But let's get visual...I am riding into the sunset in the third row of 16 spinning cyclists. Andres Diaz and Freddie Rodriguez guide us home, the two leaders of the team. One dressed in black kit, one in white. The white fog line extends out between the tight gap of their shoulders. A row of 60 foot coconut trees vaguely shield the northern view of sun-splashed avocado-stained hills, the many layers of the bark and top-most green leaves stand over and judge our 2x8 formation underneath; as if they stand as all the teams that have ridden these roads in their opening training camps, all those professionals who've come before us.

Although this is just another year in the small and sometimes unknown world of professional cycling, this year, this spring, this week, this first day are all massive steps for Team Exergy. And I'm very happy to be on piste!

Driving Upward

Photo Credit: National Geographic

Whatever you do with your time,

Do it with passion and consistency,

Self-confidence and focus,

Self-discipline but balance,

Study your art: Pupil,

Respect your art: Morality

Inspire those close to your heart

If you aren't making someone else's day better,

What is the point?