Day 31 - Learning New Things

I love that in cycling you are constantly learning now things. You learn about race tactics, equipment, your strengths, your weaknesses, your team’s strengths, your team’s weakneses, hydration, nutrition, how hard you can go, what workouts are best for you, how much training load you can handle before burnout, what to wear, etc.

Our team is at training camp right now. It's great to be able to swap stories and experiences with teammates. You never know what little details you'll pick up if you just listen. Its a great environment because our cat 4 and 5 guys can learn from our 1s, 2s, and 3s; and vice versa. The learning doesn't just flow down, it flows up too.

No matter how experienced you are, you will still learn new things, as long as you pay attention. Its easy to put on blinders and repeat the same mistakes over and over, or train exactly the same year after year and not get the results you want. It's easy to believe that you have it all figured out, but never try anything new because you think the way you're doing it is always better. It's easy to be overdressed or underdressed on your ride because you never pay attention to what works and what doesn't. If you are willing to pay attention, you can learn so much.

I hope that I helped you learn something this month from reading this, even if it's just that pop tarts are the king of ride food. I heard a couple people say they want to do their own version of my 31 day idea, and I hope you do. I think the spread of. Knowledge in our local cycling community can really benefit from it.