So it's been a while since I have posted anything here, and I thought that it was about time that I did an update about how my season has been going, and why I haven't been doing any blog posts or really uploading to strava.
To say the least this has been a pretty frustrating year of racing. At the beginning of the year I had tried to do all the "right" things to set myself up for success this season. Things like; Regular Chiro/Physio appointments, committing more time to a trainer when weather was poor, reducing work load, getting funding, increasing training volume, committing to a "single" race discipline (Marathon/Ultra Marathon events),a bike fit to optimize my riding position, heck I even tried to limit carb intake for a performance increase! However even with this effort, this year has been less than fruitful. Since the end of March I've been fighting an injury of some sort on the back of my leg, at the time of writing this (July 14th) I've seen a few Dr.'s/had an X-Ray done and there isn't a clear diagnosis into what the injury is. All I know is that the back of both of my calves are constantly tight, sore, achey, and if I make any sudden movements or jerking motions I get a shooting pain up through that region. From a training perspective I have done a total of 50hrs of riding since Barry Roubaix in April (roughly three months ago). For reference, the total number of hours ridden since Barry Roubaix is less than that of the first 3 weeks of training in March. With this lack of riding, let alone training I have had to miss 4 key events in the beginning of my season. The NUE Mohican 100 mile MTB Marathon, Lumber Jack 100 Mile MTB Marathon, The Reggie Ramble 200km Gravel event this past weekend, and The NUE Shenandoah 100 Mile MTB Marathon in 2 weekends time.
Now I appreciate how the message above may sound pretty doom and gloom, and at the same time I'm not going to pretend that I've been all sunshine and rainbows the last few months. It has sucked, and it's been incredibly frustrating feeling like everyday I'm moving further away from my goals. But, many years ago I learned that s*** happens. It's not necessarily our fault that there is s*** everywhere, but it's our responsibility to deal with it and clean it up. The moment I learned this, the moment I recognized it, the easier all situations have become. Taking responsibility and control of the problems in our lives makes those problems smaller. Cleaning the s*** up allows us to start fixing the problems as opposed to fixating on them. Now don't get me wrong it's really easy to see the s*** everywhere and say "nope, not today, this is not my problem" we have all been there. Heck even over the last few months I've been there, not wanting to ice, stretch or do the exercises I've been prescribed because I feel like I'm never going to get better, that this is now my life. But if we do that everyday, if we never "clean up the s***" it's always going to be there, and it's never going to get better. Now to roll this back around to where I'm at now, currently I cannot race. Best scenario, it is probably going to be a solid 8-12 weeks before I'm in "competitive form". This means that my best best case scenario from here on out is that I will compete in 4 out of the 13 events I planned for this season... Realistically Big/Little Sugar will be my last two opportunities to race and prove myself this year. Which sucks, I based my whole year around being an athlete and doing these big races and events. I initially had 13 "key" events planned for this year and my goal was to try and prove to myself that I belonged there, that these "pro's" are my peers not my idols. Now my opportunities for all of 2024 have shrunk by 75%. Now I can either say woe is me there is no point in me even trying because I'll be lucky to be competitive in 2 more events this year. Or I can say I have 2 more opportunities to prove what I'm capable of. That the two remaining events are two of the most well attended and stacked fields in North American Gravel/MTB Marathon racing. So what can I do to ensure that I can prove myself that I belong here and to be competitive in these fields. To me, it's a pretty clear choice.
I'm a big believer in finding a silver lining. Even when life seems like crap, it's always important to see the positives. So that's where I want to end this post. Having to take some forced time away from racing and training has made me look at my equipment choices and try and figure out ways to optimize my bike to be as efficient as possible for the racing I want to do. When otherwise I would have just gone with the "status quo" and assumed what I'm currently using is good enough. More importantly though, it's given me the opportunity to think of life outside of racing, and a chance to try and figure out what I want to do after all of this. Which is something I've ever really done, my world for the last decade has been racing, and trying to figure out how I can make this my career. Now with that being said I 100% would have preferred to be racing and training as opposed to what I have currently been doing... But in someways I am a little thankful for this set back and what it has opened my mind up to.
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We love you Brody, keep fighting!!
Keep up the positivity and determination!
You'll get through this.
I think it's pretty cool I know someone who is able to compete in races that I've only ever read about or listened to on podcasts.
Keep at it, the comeback is gonna be great!
It's just riding a bike fucking enjoy it. Don't goddamn overthink it! 😂