Keeping track of where you’ve been…

Everybody wants to know about my World Cup track experience. And I keep thinking and thinking about what I should say. All the stories about the World Cup have already been released and read, told and re-told and I have barely had time to catch my breath to start to talk about it. So what is left to talk about?? I don’t want to just relay the cliché “rookie learns a lot” because: a) that should be a given, and b) rookies aren’t the only ones who learn a lot from a world-class event. So how do I do my experience justice in a short little blog like this?



Why is it that something like the World Cup should be so exciting - especially your first time there. Of course you get to “compete with the best” and “gain experience for the future” but that is just like the rest of life for people who are paying attention….

Or maybe that is what is so great about it. When you are there, YOU are there, Thoe Bos is there, Arnaud Tournant is there, Sergi Escobar Roure is there. You realize they have all been there before, but between times they were all learning from life somewhere else just like you. That might seem a little ridiculous and obvious but as a cyclist it is a significant milestone…everyone there becomes a part of your history. And you become a part of everyone else’s history. The only difference is that the best have taken notice of more milestones. The top riders have a greater education, PhD’s in psychology, where as I am only finishing my high school diploma. The best part about an event like this is that you get to see even the best cyclists learning, about their riding and themselves. So I guess the experience of a world-class event isn’t being in the same place with the best. It seems to go beyond that. It is more like getting an education with Einstein as your peer. You are developing alongside the best at that time, in that place. And, even if you grow to a point where you can beat them in the future you both still have that shared history. The temporal nature of cycling puts everyone on the same level; the champions are the individuals that grow throughout their entire career. Not just learning how to win either; learning how to win, lose, teach, be humble, be a showmen, an athlete, and all the other things that set great cyclist apart from those that simply utilize talent.

I guess that was the best part of my World Cup experience; coming to the realization that the “best of the best” face just as many challenges as I do. After all that’s what makes it so much fun…the fact that even when you are the best it will still be a competition, an experience, and even more of a challenge to dig deeper and be a better competitor than you where at the last milestone.

I would like to say a quick thank you to all the support staff we had, and to the other Team Canada athletes, and I hope to be on more projects with all of you in the future.