I've got it!

Yup, I've got it all figured out...

Those days when you don't ride so much and sit on your butt all day, you have lots of time to think about crazy stuff... So... I sat and thought about a lot of stuff the last couple days and you know what? I've got answers now...

One of the many things I was thinking about is why making the shift from racing in the states to racing in Europe is so hard for some people. I am seeing some of the guys at the national team house get into a bit of a slump... Including myself to an extent. I am in good spirits and glad to be here, but it gets very tough to focus so intently on each and every race. Then still make THE mistake you're trying so hard not to make (or a new one) every race. So being so focused, while in itself isn't gonna crack someone, but when you throw the other factors of racing in on top of that... It can get tough... For example, I went into Monday feeling a bit more sore and tired than normal. I wanted to do the race and push my limits a little bit to see how I can race here with a bit of fatigue... I knew had this week to recover a bit before the next race. The legs felt very sluggish and had no pop to them whatsoever, it took much longer than normal to get the leg speed going... that's neither here nor there... The point is, at the end, it took every little bit of mental energy and drop of adrenaline to tune out the cramping in the hand, shoulders, feet, stomach, the pain in my back, the fact I was compensating for fatigued muscles in my legs so I could focus on attacks, positioning, and not crashing when it started pouring down rain. Sound tough yet? Now throw in the Belgian phenomenon... I'm not going to elaborate too much as to what causes this but there are moments where there seems to be just cause... Many of the Belgian racers dislike us and the cycling center... Some of our guys can be arrogant, but it goes both ways. When Summerhill had a bad crash last saturday (not due to his error), it was pretty insulting (and without class) when a Belgian rider was laughing at him as he was lying in a crumpled heap on the ground. This is prevalent, not a race goes by where someone doesn't come back with some sort of story of this nature. That kind of stuff is rough on your head when you're already trying so hard and can push some guys over the edge. Especially as young as many of the national team guys are, it's a rough gig and hard work. The races aren't really fun when you know at each and every race, you're going to be the target of criticism and part of the team people want to put in a ditch or into an obsticle... When the races stop having fun, it's tough to push yourself so hard just to finish the race. So yea... that's it... kinda my thoughts after looking at things from a few different perspectives...

Maybe that's not really a direct answer... but yea... I'm allowed to ramble a little bit...