A Problem I'd Love to Have

What is probably three or four years ago now, I was out on a ride with my friend and mentor Blair Berbert. We were probably about 1hr 56mins in, and I was probably already totally cracked, under fueled, and turning myself inside out to keep Blair from realizing. Blair would always take me out on these big rides, and every ride we did I would be progressively in a little less over my head. On this particular ride I remember we were talking about how awesome it would be to be professional cyclists. I said something stupid along the lines of how hard it must be for Andy Schleck to decide what races he wants to do. Blair said, "that is one of those problems I'd love to have". Over the past few years Blair and I have kept going on big rides together, and lots has changed, I don't totally crack on the rides anymore and we're both going faster. However we still do speculate about how great it'd be to be top pros.

This past weekend I flew to California at 6:30pm Friday night and flew back to Colorado at 12:20pm Sunday. The purpose of the trip was for the first little Cal Giant mini camp, to meet the new guys, get bike fits from Specialized, etc. All week I was bitching to myself about what a pain it was, and how pointless it seemed to fly to California for what was essentially a 24hr trip. Then when I was standing in the Specialized headquarters in Morgan Hill, being asked what size aero jersey I wanted and whether I wanted an SL4 or a Venge, I couldn't help but smile to myself as I realized this trip was one of those problems I'd always wanted to have.

I've still got a long ways to go towards accomplishing all the personal goals I have, but it feels good to look back and realize how far I've come.