Checking In

May 7th of 2013, to, February 1st of 2015, 635 days. February 1st 2015, to September 6th 2017, 948 days.  Numbers, dates, etc, point being, I suppose, that this blog has slipped into a bit of a defunct entity.  That said, for whatever reason, I am flying from primary home to secondary home, and feeling an urge to get the blog up to speed.

Ok, so getting up to speed, here.  When I last checked in, I was, "shoulders deep in coaching".  Well, call it naive, call it 20/20 hindsight, I'd say I was far shallower than shoulders deep, and maybe now I am getting there?  Seeing as everytime I round a proverbial bend, I realize I'm a bit farther from the top, than I once thought I was, I'll refrain from making allegories on where I stand in the coaching world.  Right, tangent, getting up to speed - primary home is Boulder, CO (still), and secondary home, more or less, is Sittard, Netherlands.  I guess that's been a secondary home before, but the mechanism has changed.  Where in a previous blog, Sittard would have been my launching pad for a World Tour pursuit, a racing campaign, a camp of hard yards of training, etc, etc, me, me, me - now it serves a bit different purpose.  Same base, similar idea, different role.

The coaching has taken me to directing the U23 national team for USA Cycling.  Definitely a gear change, and I would think I'm not the only one that's been scratching my head this year wondering how a 26 year old dirt bag smooth talked his way into this role.  Now, of course, my ego would step up and say it's not all smooth talk, and there's been some hard yards off the bike that have placed me here.  I would agree with my ego to some extent, but also counter that I'm extremely fortunate to be where I am, and there's been an element of right place, right time, that played strongly as well.

Now, mechanism aside, I've enjoyed it a lot.  I'd be lying, if I said, I'd enjoyed every minute.  It's been hard, harder than I imagined.  But, cliche as it may be, seeing the effort the riders put in, and the progress we've made as program - well it makes it pretty easy to work hard.  Well, as I said, flying from primary home to secondary home.  We've just wrapped l'Avenir.  I've been home for a week, and now it's back over to the EU, for a final push towards Worlds.  I don't actually like the word final, as it sounds like a final gasp for breath.  Rather, I think this push is a momentous push. The riders are fit, and Worlds is far from an afterthought.  Obviously, hindsight will tell us the success.  But from where I sit now, it's nothing but excitement, anticipation, and a bit of confidence.  Keen to get stuck in on this one.

Well - there's the every two year check in (I wanted to say biannual, but feared that may mean twice per year?).  Maybe a strong gin and tonic will move this to a higher frequency.  But every two years doesn't sound so bad to me.  Thanks for reading - if there's anyone out there.