2019 Valley of the Sun, Criterium
Great morning today, beautiful 45 degrees outside! With a late start today for the Valley of the Sun Criterium we told the boys they were own their own or breakfast. Plenty of bagels, oatmeal, eggs, cereal and yogurt to choose from. I sat back and looked at all the different choices that were being made from eggs and avocado toast, to oats stacked with raisins, fruit, honey and brown sugar, to Joel's new love for Mrs. Butterworth syrup that inspired him to putting them on his eggs. Lots of food to say the least and tons of calories being consumed. As you may or may not realize in competitive cycling, nutrition is vital, not only in getting enough calories but in getting the right nutrients. Energy, recovery and strength are based as much around nutrition as physical training. Recovery is a part of how you can move towards peak athletic performance. These boys know how important recovery nutrition is and we want to help them own it. So part of the fun in the guys doing their own breakfast is to get a feel for who has already stepped into nutrition independence, basically just means knowing how to be self sufficient in the kitchen. Either way, it's not a big deal, we are just there to help, there is no bad or good in this judgement. Again we are just looking for opportunity to help add some life skills that you have to have if you are willing to do what it takes to move through the process and ranks of being a pro cyclist. A bad meal is a choice, and not a big deal but every athlete has to be aware of what their body needs for it to hit peak and potential. Not looking to complicate anyone's routine, we just want to make sure they grow the skills to feed themselves enjoyable food they need to fuel their passion of choice. Again, eating a burger and fries is not going to throw you off course. Passion is at its best when you have balance and allow yourself to fulfill wants while you hammer at your needs to succeed! The Crit was a blast for the team, again they followed the plan and most everything worked out to get the result today. Communication was there, we made the moves we were suppose to and we saved some guys for the sprint and they knew whose wheel to jump on. Scott McGill podiumed with 2nd place, all the guys were super stoked!
Kudos to our team of young men's parents, we have a great group of young athletes They are respectful, polite, helpful and what we would all want in a son. Thank you for letting us be a part of this journey to helping them succeed at getting to the next level in cycling and reaching their goals!