From http://www.bike.com/features/template.asp?page=2&lsectionnumber=5&lsectiondirectory=training&date=6%2F7%2F2001

Why Do You Race?
From  Adam Myerson
6/7/2001 

Earlier this year a client came to me with a difficult question. She
was having some challenges in her life outside of cycling, and it was
making it difficult for her to maintain her focus and motivation for
another season of racing. At the same time, her racing goals were
important to her and she did not want to give them up. The advice she
sought had nothing to do with how to train or what intervals to do
because her problems were existential, not physiological. So -- she
asked me -- why do I race? What is it that keeps me in the sport year
after year? And what could she do to keep that spark?

It's not an easy thing to explain. Much like when a partner asks you
"why do you love me?" You know the answer in your heart, but you might
not be able to verbalize or even conceptualize it. You just know. The
reasons you race can be similar. You love to do it, sure, but do you
know why?

Before you take steps to hire a coach, start a new training program,
or even go out riding on any given day, it's crucial to your success
to know why you do it. Much like my client, I had been faced with a
crisis a few years earlier. I had gotten married, been racing
full-time for a decade already and still hadn't turned pro, was sick
of living hand-to-mouth, and decided maybe it was time to get a
job. Yet I found that without the regularity and routine of training
every day my life was unhappy in a way that no pay check could ever
fix. At the same time, I had no plans to go back on the road and
pursue racing at the highest level again. Getting a pro contract had
been my driving force all those years. So now I had to ask myself why
I was still racing, and what satisfaction I was getting out of it.

What I realized I loved about racing my bike was simply the pursuit of
perfection. I don't have to hunt for my food or wander the earth
looking for berries, so that primal energy has to be expressed
somehow. Playing out the drama of life every weekend on the bike is my
outlet for that energy. It gives the fabric of my life some substance,
makes it richer, and allows me to play the game of trying to control
the uncontrollable. The lessons I learn on the bike are lessons I'm
able to apply to the world as a whole.  I'm can express aggressive
sides of my personality in the races; sides of me that I want to keep
separate from the way I treat people in "real life." In a nutshell,
racing keeps me sane. That doesn't mean I don't feel a full range of
emotions when I race, or get depressed about how things are going on
the bike. But that range of emotions is part of what makes me feel
alive.

Your reasons to race might be different. Certainly, not everyone's
able to get the same satisfaction from racing, or to keep his or her
aggression on the bike. The scar of a fractured skull and brain
surgery on the side of my head is testament to that, and perhaps the
result of someone who no longer knew why they raced or got any
satisfaction from it. Some might use it as an escape from life, a time
to meditate, or perhaps an opportunity to simply be social.  For
others, it might just be a job. Whatever it is, take some time to pin
it down, perhaps even writing it out to read back to yourself when you
need some reminding.  When you set up your specific training and
racing goals for the season - alone or with your coach - keep the
reasons you race in the back of your mind, and let those reasons help
shape your plans. If you do, you'll race with a clearer vision and
motivation, and keep both your successes and your failures in more
realistic perspective.

Adam Hodges Myerson is a cycling coach, race promoter, team manager,
and USCF category 1 racer. His company is called Cycle-Smart, and he
can be reached at adam@cycle-smart.com. He lives in Northampton, Mass.
with his wife, Allison, and their two cats Birdie and Marie.

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