It is has been a whirlwind few days here at Ottawa Cross world headquarters.... Lots of planning, phoning, research, and hand-wringing. But I'm happy to say that a big part of my early cyclo-cross season has been sorted (to steal a phrase from across the pond...).
Thanks in large part to my dad, my travel plans and peace of mind for an upcoming trip to Aigle, Switzerland and Plzen, Czech Republic are taken care of. I have a race in Aigle on Oct. 17 and then a race in Plzen on Oct. 24. A big trip. One that I was prepared to do myself, but really didn't want to do myself. Marc had the idea of calling my dad and seeing if he was up for it. And yes, he is. So we've got a fancy schmancy RV booked, plane tickets booked and two races to get to. We're flying into Frankfurt on Oct. 14 with the first stop being Aigle and then a bit of time until we need to get to Plzen. Tacked on a couple days at the end for some sightseeing. All in all, it is going to be a great trip.
Kind of seems a bit surreal at this point. Suppose this is because I'm normally not this organized and booked so early in advance. But since we needed to arrange an RV, plans had to be made. This is a good thing - one less thing to rattle around in my crazy brain....
I guess I really haven't talking much about cyclo-cross on this site. Suppose really because I've been doing this a lot over on my other web site. Suffice it to say, this is going to be another awesome season. Lots of racing on deck, with the first race on Sept. 11 in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. I've got one chock full week where I race in Catamount, Vermont, hop a plane the next day on Monday and fly to San Diego to do some work with the KingsBridge team, then driving to Las Vegas and racing at 'Cross Vegas on Wednesday, back home on Friday and then driving to New York for a race on the Saturday. So that is a busy one. But a good one. No complaints here. Beats the alternative - cubicle land and contemplating the world outside the grey walls...
Before I know it I'll be back in Blauberg, Belgium (Nov. 9 it looks like) and the racing will be full-steam ahead. The difference when I'm in Belgium is the travel - I don't have any eight hour car drives to make - usually the longest is a couple of hours. This makes a big difference in the fatigue, logistics, and time it takes to race, recover and get ready to do it all again.
Gee, as I type this, I'm feeling pretty darn lucky. Lucky that I can be doing this. This is of course, all down to one person. Most of you know who this is... But in case you don't - Marc. Marc is the one who makes all this possible. He is the one encouraging me to chase my dreams, to soak up life and get out there. I'm so fortunate to have such a tremendous person in my life. There are days when I feel awfully guilty that I'm out riding my bike in the middle of the day and he is at work, wishing he could be out riding as well. Really, this makes me push on the pedals harder, knowing the sacrifices he is making so I can do this.
I can only hope that you have someone in your life who helps you chase your dreams. Life is way too short to put dreams on a "to do" list. I just received news this week of a friend's sister-in-law passing away - at the age of 56 - much too short of a life. Take a close look at your "to do" list - make sure there aren't any big ticket items on it that you keep transferring from one list to the next. Things like "buy plane tickets", "buy travel book", "research trip", "go back to school", "sign up for online course", "take kids to the park". These are the things that make life worth living - the laundry, groceries, emails, and errands really can be pushed to the next list. Life can't be pushed off....
Comments