..and why FASTER was created
It doesn’t matter if I’m watching the Tour de France, a local cyclocross race, a track cycling event, or the human interest stories from Ironman Kona. It doesn’t matter if I’m on my road bike, time trial bike, fixed gear bike, track bike, or mountain bike. It doesn’t matter if I’m riding easy, training hard, or racing. I love cycling.
In July of 1988, I turned on ABC’s Wide World of Sports and watched Pedro Delgado & Miguel Indurain ride a strategic stage of the Tour de France while racing for the famed Banesto cycling team. The color of all the jerseys, the beauty of the scenery, and the speed of the race intoxicated me. I promptly went out that day and bought an aluminum road bike, with SunTour components, 7 speed down-tube shifters, and toe-clip pedals. I know this dates me in light of current technology! After a few local training rides, I was told about bike races at Portland International Raceway – a 2 mile auto racing track. After three amateur races (only 8 miles long each!) and three top-3 finishes, I bought a USCF license and proceeded to race road bikes from 1988 to 1995, including my ultimate highlight of racing for an impromptu amateur team of racers from all over the country where we raced a summer in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany & Switzerland in 1992.
Due to my own immaturity and compulsiveness, I quit racing seriously after the Europe trip and ultimately stopped riding the bike cold-turkey in 1995. The main reason I quit, was that I thought, at basically at age 23 (after getting back from Europe), that I had gotten as “fast” as I could get. In hindsight, I laugh at my own short-sightedness!
I spent the next 12 years, taking my competitive and compulsive nature to build multiple businesses within the wireless and tower industry, while also getting married and building a family. A focus on those things, led me to build what is now the largest privately held wireless construction and maintenance company in the northwest, but also led to a weight gain of 75lbs over my 1992 race weight!
In late 2007, after realizing that the weight I had gained was affecting my quality of life, I knew I needed to start exercising. It didn’t take me long to realize that getting back on the bike offered me great scenery, fresh air, the exhilaration of speed, and avoided the monotony of stair climbers and treadmills. It also didn’t take me long to realize, with my compulsive mentality, that simply riding the bike and not competing again was contrary to who I was.
So now in my 4th year back racing the bike in my “2nd career” of amateur bike racing, I’m approaching things much differently. While I follow a regimented plan, I try to focus more on having fun. I personally have the distinct ability to make things intended for fun, NOT fun – just watch me play golf and I’ll take something that should be appreciated and turn it into a frustrating situation when I don’t play to my ability!!!
I also try to be “who I am” as a bike racer, i.e. focusing on events that are suited to my strengths rather than doing races not suited to me, i.e. trying to be someone on the bike that I am not. I recognize that there are always new areas of improvement to work on: Training methods (via power meter, via metabolic efficiency, etc.), Nutrition, Flexibility, Tactics, Sport Psychology & Mental Strength.
I focus on rest and recovery, as much as training. In looking back at my race diaries from 1989 to 1992, I am astonished at how many times I was tired and telling myself to rest, but I just kept going back out doing the same training over and over! I wasn’t training intensely enough on my hard days, and I wasn’t resting enough when my body needed it – a vicious circle. Therefore, I wasn’t improving.
So at age 43, I feel like I am the best bike racer I have ever been and still improving. Not because my body is better than 15 to 20 years ago, but because I am wiser and being more strategic.
If you were to summarize my life, it would probably be best summarized with a level of non-contentment – sometimes unhealthy which I have to be cautious about, but usually healthy. Whether it be to improve my businesses, improve my relationships, or grow in my faith, I am rarely content – always wanting to improve. This is what FASTER was born out of.
Do you have goals, not just in cycling, but in life? If not, set them. Then make a systematic plan of what you need to do to accomplish them. You’ll grow and ultimately be better for it. For those that enjoy cycling and triathlon, I envisioned FASTER to be a place that would offer up the most comprehensive list of performance related services to those that either wanted to improve or accomplish their goals. There are a lot of options out there for you to enjoy your hobby and we just hope that FASTER can be one of your resources for you
Have fun out on the roads and be safe!
James
