Birthdays and What All

I turned 62 last weekend.  It snuck up on me somehow, getting old. 

My recent ranking by USA Cycling has in some way vindicated me;  I always felt I had it in me, but was held back by my marriage and my own lack of confidence when I was young.  I showed promise though, and even I with my own lack of self-confidence could see it; after all, I qualified for the 1980 Olympic Trials by placing in several Olympic Development road races that year.  I was close, even with the ongoing battle with my ex-wife.  All I needed were a few good national level results.  I was heading to the National Championships held that year in Bisbee, Arizona on a hilly course.  I had support team lined up, and some sponsorship money, but then my dad up and died unexpectedly.  So, for twenty nine years I always wondered if I really had it.  I think I did, and do.  It didn’t come easily.  I ride myself to the point of riding the line between near injury and over training.  Some would say (Mr. Lemire) that it doesn’t mean anything, and in one way, he’s right.  It’s not something that captures the imagination of the public at large.  But it has my attention, so it has meaning for me.  I took a talent and honed it as well as I could on my own, and by targeting certain races, and certain kinds of races, put myself in the position I wanted to be in, first.  I was going for stage racing because I had come so close last year (2^nd), but in so doing, I also took first in road racing, an unexpected and welcome bonus.

Now that this has been accomplished, I’ve decided not to chase ranking points next year.  Rather, I want to chase better results in certain races, and let the rest fall where it may.  I’m going after the four Eastern Sierra races, Death Valley Road Stage Race (both spring and fall), Mount Whitney Stage Race, and the Everest Challenge (I’d like to take an hour off my GC time).  I will likely ride other hill climb races, such as the Porcupine Hill Climb in Utah and the Mount Graham Hill Climb in Arizona.  I’ll likely ride the Arizona State Road Championships as well, a long and grueling climbing course.  I’m probably going to hire a coach and add a power meter to my training. 

As for the rest of my life?  I’ll continue to take photographs, hike in the desert in the winter, and become increasingly active politically (I’m a committed Marxist, by the way).  I also plan to retire, hopefully, in 2014 and maybe move to Bishop, California, to be near the Sierras, which I’ve loved since I first went there in 1969.