TwoWheeledWorld

I recently got a comment from someone; we'll just call him the Stunt Double, who seemed to be questioning his whole purpose for racing mountain bikes.

In fact, I get that very question posed to me a lot: what exactly are you training for? What are you working towards - you're a "Pro" now, so what does that mean?

I told the Stunt Double I pose that same question to myself during the first, the second, and occasionally third hour of virtually every race I'm in. What the hell am I doing to myself?

Racing hurts like hell. And the training can be a huge scheduling inconvenience, and in 18 years of it I've attained what you might call a "working-class-Pro" status and have never drawn a salary - so what's the point?

The point is simple: To me, it's not an event, it's a lifestyle. Each and every race is like the biggest presentation you've ever done in your career. It's like your senior thesis; like your sales pitch to the CEO. Racing is like getting the nerve up to ask the hottest girl in school to prom and then getting the nod...

And as long as that emotional rollercoaster is in my gut; as long as my mouth continues to dry out as I go through my warm up phase before each race, then I'll keep going. It's never been about the paycheck...

It's about the experience. And if you get a handful of podiums each year, well then, all the more gravy on that chicken fried steak...