Saturday, January 17, 2009

To Hurt

So the other day in government class I was kinda bored so I wrote.  That was kinda weird, I not really into writing, I don't really like it or consider myself I good writer...I actually think I'm a pretty bad writer.  But for some reason I just felt like writing, I had all these random sentences popping into my head so I just decided to write it down on a piece of paper.  I think what I wrote is not very good and rather sporadic...and is pretty standard of every bike racer, it's pretty cheesy I guess, but I figured since I wrote it out already I might as well type it up and put on the blog:

To Hurt

To win is to hurt...that is something I learned this summer.  A victory is glory and joy, but it is also pain and suffering and dedication.  Of course everybody knows that, it gets pounded into your head as soon as you enter the sport and think your something.  But to really know it is something else.  Everyone says "Man I went deep!", but did you?  I think I know now.  This past season was hard, I did alright, truthfully if I think back on the season carefully I get pretty dissappointed.  There were a lot of missed opportunities I think, a lot of times I was right there and just choked...but if I took away one thing it's a new understanding.  They guys at the top...of some of the races I was doing...it seems like they're at another level, but i dont think they are.  Yeah if you're faster you're faster, but thats not always it.  The guys at the top can turn it on...and thats what you have to be able to do.  It doesnt matter, and no DS really cares if you can do 500 w for 20 min while holding a position that has a 1.687 CdA...I mean I dont even know what the hell that means.  But if you can't turn it on when it's time to go you're screwed, pretty simple.  I getting stronger, Im getting better, but most importantly I think Im hurting better...its what the sports about, I think.  Theres some tact and wit involved as well, but you gotta hurt.  I love the movie PRO.  I think when Chris Horner says "you gotta wanna go...it's in the blood", that pretty much is the bomb.  When I got the chance to go up to a big jr race in Canada this summer (basically just to get whooped up on) I saw a lot.  I saw the kids on the French nat'l team getting up at the front and just stringing it out in the gutter, for like 15 min...one kid!  The thing is there up though and they're going for it, one goal, one focus, and thats what its gotta be.  I hope this season is good for me...I hope I can hurt, I think if I can hurt as well in the races I do in my training, I'll be in the top.


2 comments:

Jim Wilson said...

Very nicely said. Writing, first, is getting clear in your heart and head. Putting it to paper (or a blog), fixing the grammar, is the second, less important part. Heck, Thomas Wolfe or William Faulkner, they were pretty bad grammarians (see Maxwell Perkins), rule-breakers, but they thought deeply, they were almost tormented, and they wrestled-out some of the best American writing (The Sound and the Fury, Look Homeward, Angel).

As to pain, it is something important. It defines us in many ways. When you can exercise choice over pain, to look the other way when it hits bad, you are more powerful.

Anyway, Nate, well said and well done. Remember, when the pain hits, we're there for you, an extra pedal stroke.

Jim and Care

John Raley said...

Well, you pretty much summed it up bud. I love your Father's comment as well (as it is perfectly correct). You know that my mantra is "We are all Masochists". That is the only way to describe what we do. That overpowering urge to continue with the break after vommiting. Trying to sprint after your calves seize up. Pulling your guy to the line when your thighs are string cheese. Yeah, I fell yah.