I never stand at finish lines.
I don’t believe that is where the lessons are learned.
When I am coaching and supporting our amazing young people at the races, I always try to find a solo spot on the course.
I don’t want to see what others see.
I want to see what others don’t see and I believe that is where we all learn who we are.
Who we are — is who we are when no one is looking.
This is a saying that I tell the riders often. It is a statement that is meant to support them in who they want to be. It is to remind them that even if no one is looking they can practice being the person they want to be. Who we are and what we want to accomplish in life should have nothing to do with who is watching, but should have everything to do with us.
On Saturday I was able to find a spot at the top of the climb. I can report back that I saw amazing efforts by all of the riders. I saw every rider trying their best and trusting themselves.
The Saturday road race was an extremely challenging 54 mile course with a lot of climbing.
While there are certainly some areas for growth amongst all of us, I can very proudly say that I saw every rider accepting the challenge to be their best. And for so many this was their first road bike race ever.
There were some pretty nice results as well. Max G took his first win ever and Ryan was an incredible teammate and got 2nd in the junior race.
Sunday
This was really a special day for the club.
At 7:20 am the Junior race started.
To be on time and prepared to race we had to be on site by 6am.
The venue was an hour and fifteen minutes away so we had to leave downtown by 4:45am.
And we still had 16 young people lined up to race. An amazing testament to the dedication of so many of our riders.
The most beautiful part of the race was that the whole team came together for two goals.
One we wanted to ensure that three of our riders were in a position to score upgrade points by finishing well in the race.
More importantly though we had many older riders in the race and very new riders, with a huge range in ability.
The amazing kindness of the team really came through during the junior race.
The older more experienced riders stayed back to coach and encourage the younger riders. Guiding them through the turns, cheering them on up the hills, and encouraging them the whole way around the difficult course.
This is what the team is all about. Sharing, encouraging and caring. I was so wonderfully pleased to see such kindness.
HOW.
It has been my coaching mantra this season.
How do we treat ourselves?
How do we treat others?
How are we accepting the challenges?
How are we encouraging others?
How are we talking about ourselves?
How is my coaching creating positive young folks?
If we can focus on HOW we are going about learning about ourselves then we don’t have to worry about results because we can be proud of the process. Now it is ok to want to win and to find success but we cannot focus on that. It is not controllable. All that is controllable is HOW we go about treating ourselves and others in the pursuit of becoming our best selves.
I want to kindly and politely extend that challenge to the wonderful parents on the team.
You all have incredible children.
Lets trust in their abilities.
Lets trust that they are strong.
Lets trust that they are resilient.
Lets trust that they can handle the next challenge.
We are now entering the meat of the season and it is going to be thick and fast now.
However, it will be over in two months.
I know there will be times that your rider says they are tired and we have to respect that. However I also know that riders will tell me they are tired before a ride and then tell me that they are so happy that they went and they feel so much better.
I know that is a fine line to walk as a parent, but I want to open up that conversation so that you can talk with your rider and understand what they need.
Sometimes just that loving reassurance that they can do it is what they need.
A HUGE BRAVO TO THOMAS PALUDA
Thomas has been with the Grupo organization for almost 8 years now.
He started with Grupito and was never the fastest youngster.
However here we are all these years later and he is the first El Grupo Junior rider to ever win a pro Race. This is a huge testament to his hard work and dedication.
Hard Work always wins.
Oh and he won the PRO race after winning the 3/4 that he raced to help his friend score more upgrade points.
BRAVO Thomas for being such a kind and supportive teammate.
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