I was thinking how nice it is that the season, the road season, is starting up again. In Europe. Domestically.

I do like riding my bike. I like training. But, racing is why I train. I will ride no matter what, but I train to race.

At the end of last season, a lot of today’s domestic pros seem kind of less than enthused about racing. I was listening to a few guys talk at the end of last season and I keep hearing ” I have to go to” here or I got to do” this race or that race.

I think of it like I get to go to this race. I get to go there. There is a huge difference between have to and get to. There is hardly ever a race that I am planning on going to that I’m not looking forward to riding/racing. It has never seemed to be a job. It’s not a job. It’s a passion. A life. If it comes down to “have to”, I’m not gonna.

Salt Creek Criterium was today. The 2nd day in Tulsa. I knew today was going to be frustrating. It’s not ever good on the 2nd day of a regional race after finishing 1st & 2nd the day before. But, that’s fine.

I’m too tired to go over the play by play, although it was pretty interesting and kind of unusual. Brad Huff, Jelly Belly, showed up today. I realized he was going to have a frustrating day. But Brad knew it too.

Chad Cagle won today. He is from Tulsa, so it’s all good. Brian was 2nd. Chad’s team mate, Jason Waddell was 3rd. Brad was 4th. Nick finished 5th and I was 6th, but was relegated to 9th for going in too early after flatting. Whatever. Catherine made it 2 for 2 and is still at a 100% win ratio.

Early season racing is so hard. No matter how you look at it. But, there is no way to train that hard.

Spring is officially only a couple weeks away. I love spring. My favorite season by far. And daylight savings time is this weekend. The extra hour of daylight is good for all full time working racers. So, after next weekend, all you basement, trainer type, people have no reason not to get out on the road way, way more often. Maybe just put that trainer away until next winter.

Bromont, pit dog, seems to be already bored with racing.

Brad Huff and I were not going anywhere today.

They had the trainers set up in the middle of a freshly burnt grass section. Great air.

Burning has started already. Oklahoma is a couple weeks ahead of Kansas. I swear I'm not going to be around Kansas for that this year.

I was 100% behind the removal of radios from bicycle racing. I think it takes away from the moment. Takes the intellect out of the sport. Makes it mechanical.

Now I’m struggling with the same dilemma with cell phones. And the internet somewhat. Don’t get me wrong. There are times that a cell phone is indispensable. And the information that is on the internet is beyond mind boggling and useful.

But, it seems that a lot of people are so into documenting their doings that they aren’t doing them anymore. And that people are so into checking out what their friends are doing that they’re doing nothing more than checking out what their friends are doing.

Cell phones are a different dilemma. There is something to be said about being out somewhere riding and only having yourself and the guys you’re with to rely on. Just the possession of the phones takes away from that unity. It disrupts the flow of the ride. Even if no one is talking on them. It is strange when there is a flat or a pee stop, everyone pulls their phones out to check for messages or texts. It takes us all out of the moment. Changing flats should be like walking home from school when you were a kid. A good thing. A time to get the read on what’s going on during the ride. A time to catch a glimpse of what everyone else you’re with is experiencing.

I don’t have many photos from when I raced before there were digital cameras. I have some photos of where I was when I raced. But, unless a photo was published in a magazine, I had no photos from the race. We were busy racing. And enjoying the travel. We weren’t much into documenting it. Now the documentation seems to be nearly as important as the experience itself. The experience is 1000 X more important. A photo doesn’t come close. The sounds, the smells, the other million things that the picture doesn’t capture.

It’s kind of like racing cyclo-x. Either you get cyclocross or you don’t. And when you do get cyclocross, you realize how special it is. You realize that it takes a trillion skills simultaneously to do it correctly. So many skills, that no one person can possess them all. It’s you against the course. Then you against the competition. A photo can capture a glimpse of cross, but you have to do it to understand it fully.

I don’t know where I’m going with this. I guess it is something like, let’s try to spend more time living the moments. And while we’re living these moments, we should leave the documentation until later. I think it will add to our quality of life.