Learning to relax

As my time carries on, I find that more and more I have to rethink how I relax. In the past I would go out to spin to calm myself, cycling was more of a stress-reliever than anything else. Even when I was a kid I would ride to relieve the mental strain of being a teenager. When I was in the military it took more of a different feel, it was a career desire, but it was still a kind of passtime.

Now, this is my job. I get up, eat, train, race, clean my equipment, eat again, put my feet up, and read. That's it, no job, Heather is not here to help, nothing. This is now my job. So that creates an issue, what do I do now to relieve stress? While there are a myriad of things that I could do, there is really only one thing I enjoy and that's riding. I thought for the longest time I was a rounded individual, that I enjoyed lots of things, even though my focus was the bike. Now I see that things are different. I need to do something other than ride. I know that sounds crazy. This is my life now, and in order to live at piece I can't restrict myself.

What does that mean? That means I need to go out, enjoy myself. I need to have a few things I've been restricting myself. I haven't had a chance to taste the pastries here, even though they look awesome, I have yet to have Belgian chocolate, and (this may be the biggest sin) I have yet to have a Belgian beer. I think that if I'm to relax and enjoy myself I need to loosen up some of these restrictions. I don't mean go crazy and hit the town, but one or two of these aren't going to kill me, if anything they may even help.

So it's time to enjoy myself, it's time for me to enjoy riding. I made a decision awhile ago, and I will follow it whether it takes 15 years or 15 weeks. I will quit racing seriously the second I dread riding the bike. The day I wake up and my first thought is "Crap, I have to go train" I'll hang up my race wheels. I don't intend on that happening now.