A fellow I work with walked in to my office the other day and started a conversation with me.
He asked me, “Fatmarc, we’ve been working together for a little bit and you have all these pictures and calendars of bike racing in your office, I gotta ask, have you ever won one?”
Without thinking, I replied, “ 7 times. I have won 7 bike races.”
He followed up, “ how many races have you done?”
I replied, “ over the course of 19 years, probably 350ish individual races; maybe another 45 or so team relays; I think we’ve won 10 or 11 of the team relays…”
He said, “ wow " he pauses, "7 wins out of 400 tries?”
I followed up, “Hell, my best race ever, I came in 3rd."
Not knowing when to shut up, I follow up,
"I don’t really win races… each of those wins were totally freaking awesome, the truth is I’m not a champion, that’s not my role, not my job, not really what I bring to a team, not what I love about racing. For me it’s the preparation, the hard work, the life style, that’s the part that I can’t say is always fun but I enjoy…what's got me hook.”
I continued, “ not that I would be sad if I won a ton of races this year…”
We laughed that strained work relationship laugh.
He picked up his file and started out of my office. He looked back at me, offering a “hmmm” and turned and walked away…
I can only conject, what he was thinking when he offered that hmmm:
“freakin’ loser”, “take up a different sport dude”, “he just likes to shave his legs…”
Maybe I said too much. I need a brain filter...
I have not felt super motivated this week. Coming out of Baker’s I had a pretty solid week of riding under the belt, and this week, with Granogue quickly approaching, I admit I haven’t had the get up and go that I have enjoyed recently.The race is coming together nicely. To the 251 of you that have registered as of this afternoon, thanks for supporting our race. Thank you for supporting the fight against ovarian cancer. Perhaps, most importantly thank you celebrating the memory of Andrew. Reg Closes Thursday at 11:00pm
I think that’s it kids.
hope to see you this weekend.
Respect
fatmarc
4 comments:
You should try adding some OJ to that High Life = milwaukee mimosa. Delicious.
See ya Sunday!
-matt
Some of my best "wins" road racing were when I buried myself to chase down breaks, police the field and then fetch our well-rested sprinter from the back to lead him out. Each one of those "wins" had me finishing DFL or close to it but were all hugely satisfying. What escapes most non-bike racers is how much of a team sport racing can be.
"I don’t really win races… each of those wins were totally freaking awesome, the truth is I’m not a champion, that’s not my role, not my job, not really what I bring to a team, not what I love about racing. For me it’s the preparation, the hard work, the life style, that’s the part that I can’t say is always fun but I enjoy…what's got me hook.”
i love this paragraph.
So apparently psychologists have found that the best way to develop a habit/addiction is by not always giving a reward. For example, when you play slots (race a bike) you don't always win, in fact most of the time you don't. But if you want to win, you have to pull the lever (race the bike.) I don't think is where you are coming from exactly, but I think it's at least a little part. I am in the sport for many of the same reasons as you are and would also not call myself a "winner". In fact, I'm proud to say that I'm a loser if my company is people like you and Jim.
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