Why The Hell Am I Training? Some Musings...

down about training or racing? wow, I got in my head on racing for a bit...a combination of a lot of missed races due to broken equipment and freak things (shearing off a crank before the early races in FL), then cancelled races in NC, then covid, then a seized seat post and missed the race with Bodo, then covid dragged into a horrible nationals, then on the road for 10 weeks waiting waiting waiting to move into my house, just got exhausted. then, started thinking "Wtf am i doing with my life. Riding training racing....but I'm an amateur, why spend so much time doing this?"  the race in ecuador, and therefore not much offseason, really just strung things out too long for me.  just Went for 3 weeks with no bike, didn't miss it, and that worried me a bit. Had i been blinded the past few years with all the riding?  so then i looked back at what I'd been doing, why did I start racing., what did I do before racing? Thinking back not as a whole, but season by season, it was nice to think of the different events and accomplishments. also to realize, It doesn't take many races to feel like you've had a great season. With social media, there's a race nearly every day it seems, and when you're only doing 10 events, it's like "I'm not even racing".....10 weekends of racing IS A LOT.  Came home, got on my bike, a 2h ride is quite difficult, and going back to normal human fitness, it really made me appreciate the rewards of being an endurance athlete....being fit, being able to ride 5 hours in one day (I could not do that yesterday if i wanted to), feeling accomplished.  So why post this????? If you are feeling down, or questioning your training, look back in small chunks at all that you have accomplished. Look back at life without the bike and honestly ask yourself, was it better? Look forward to maybe some new events, new adventures, NEW GOALS. Gotta have goals!   Then go ride for the sake of riding. It really just helped make everything click.  xo