Never give up on people

Some problems have no easy solutions, but that doesn’t stop the toughest of us from continuing to try, and try, and try again. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” And more often than not, persistence pays off.

But there are few problems that can be more intractable than matters of the heart and the challenges of changing hearts. So what are we to do when hearts are frozen in place, and not a good place at that? Jesus addressed this very matter a number of times, and He gives us part of the answer.

In essence, He tells us never to give up on people, but to recognize that sometimes, no matter what we say or do, certain folks just aren’t ready yet to move forward or to hear the Good News. In that circumstance, He tells us not to badger, get angry, or condemn. Just move on. Shake the dust from your feet and move on. Hold those folks always in prayer, and hope for the future, but let them be.

It’s hard to do, but in the long run, the best gift we have for such folks is our silent, respectful caring and hoping. So when that moment comes, don’t judge, just commend them into God’s hands and let go!

Robert

Just do it

This past weekend I rode my 32. marathon in this season. It was not easy to stay consistent and it wasn’t easy to get over some of the course hurdles. I noticed my enthusiasm waned about the time I saw at the half distance on the schedule. But it was the conditioning, consistently over the course of the whole that enables me to line up virtually every weekend.

I always have a plan B just in case when worse comes to worse. If so I handle it true to the motto: simply do it.

Let me briefly cite St. Paul who liked the race imagery as well and often used it as metaphor for the Christian life. His quote goes like this

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.”

For me (and perhaps for you as well) Paul’s encouragement and aspiration is to run well and to run our best. This metaphor speaks of effort, consistency, and obedience. In fact this is exactly the problem with us. Using the race metaphor Paul goes on to say us

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?”

You know, Nike has it right. So many things in life simply fall under the phrase, “Just do it!” Many of my greatest issues and challenges are caused not by what happens to me, but what I do to me! In regards to the spiritual life, so often I simply neglect to do that which I know I should do. When I become lazy about my spiritual life, my “race”

suffers. I’m not riding well. I’m not riding my best. When you train for a race, if you take too long a break in training your riding suffers. So it is in the spiritual life.

Authentic spirituality takes work, practice, obedience, good doses of humor and equal amounts of humility. It is a race. In many ways it is like a marathon; we’re in this for the long haul. The conditioning of our souls is what allows us to run well. Frequent Mass attendance, regular confession, reading Scripture, reading an edifying spiritual book, serving others — all of these are ways we “work out our salvation”. All of these are ways to increase our spiritual health and endurance and run the race.

Peace on earth

Robert

To get prepared for the pain

Not far ago I wrote a piece which has been themed "why do you race?" It was an exploration in motivation; as an addicted rider it's not just my duty to determine for myself what workout to do each day or when to rest, but also to find the inspiration to climb on the bike day in and day out amidst the pressures of work, social matters, and the inevitable failures that come during a season of racing. It thought these lines and thoughts might help you as an active racer (or advocate of this sport) struggling with the same issues and spend a great deal of time trying to solve these problems .

Bike racing, in its essence, is a competition to see who can suffer the most and survive. During the week in training and recovery, and in a weekend of racing, attacking, and counterattacking, we know it's not always the most talented or most prepared that wins. Often the one who manages to combine the perfect mix of timing, tactics, and the ability to suffer and persevere when the opportunity presents itself is the one that wins the race. It's the essence of suffering in bike racing that I find the most compelling as a fan and participant, and what can move me to tears when the winning attack is made in some of those big marathons, or I manage to slip away for a podium place in the smallest of local races.

There is a dream state to suffering on the bike that we're all familiar with. You're aware of the race, that it's crunch time, perhaps, and that the break is about to go. We often find ourselves in the clouds at that point, struggling to make tactical choices while we're at or above our lactate thresholds for long periods, distracted by the pain, sometimes convinced that it would be impossible to increase it voluntarily. We repeatedly put our heads on the block and pull it away, faced with crisis points of pain that are difficult to act against in order to put in the winning attack or follow the decisive move, even when we see it plainly in front of us.

The suffering we feel has physiological basis, of course. Without a formal study or even an attempt to be scientific, it seems to me to be related to our self-preservation. Your body wants to protect itself against damage of any kind, and we know the more intense your work on the bike becomes, the more damage you do to yourself on the cellular level. The higher the intensity, the more the damage, and the more your body creates a sensation of pain to encourage you to stop. Cramping muscles are still one of the great mysteries of physiology, with no conclusive explanations. It's a clear message from your body that since you didn't voluntary remove the stress you placed on yourself by riding at high intensities for long periods, your body's going to take things into it's own hands to make sure the stress is removed. Anyone who's raced or trained to the point of cramping knows that it's nearly impossible to continue to pedal through deep muscle cramps.

To suffer, then, requires courage. To override your body's instinct for self-preservation, is the core of that courage. As an athlete, there's a time to pay attention to pain, give it respect, and back off to prevent serious injury. At the same time, competition is the place we're able to battle pain, and create tests and opportunities for acts of courage. Are then race results a measurement of courage? On one level, perhaps, as it shows who was able to play the game on every level to perfection, including the surrender to suffering. But isn't it always the winner who seems to suffer the least? The one who is a level above everyone else in the race, and is within his or her limits? Perhaps it is the less prepared who are the most courageous, as they suffer the most. It's the riders who race every weekend with no hope of ever winning that amaze and puzzle me, and earn my deepest respect. They suffer the most with pain itself as their only clear reward for their effort. To line up every weekend knowing that that's what faces you; that's courage.

I enjoy training as much as I do racing. I enjoy being systematic and structural in the approach I take to my preparation, I like the meditative aspect of my daily training rides, and I like the feeling of being fit. But it's the game we play on the bike, the races we do on the weekend, that helps us play out the dynamics of the world at large on a small, personal scale with no real consequences. It lets us get closer to pain, normally without experiencing any lasting consequences. I am aware of the glaring exceptions to this rule, but they themselves are the reminders that we are, in fact, alive, and need to make the most of the authentic life we have. Without the games, without the suffering, it would be simple to forget. That's the reward we get from racing and from suffering, far above and beyond any trophies or prize money we might or might not win. It's a reminder that we are alive in this increasingly dead and uninspired world. And that's what keeps us coming back every weekend.

Robert

Horal Tour stage race - High Tatras National Park - race report

To race in a so called “Promised Land” is always something exceptional. We did just this as the 2 edition of the Horal Tour had us hit the illusive trails of Slovak Paradise National Park, next to the Tatra highlands.

That creates a hard-to-resist desire to plunge into the world of evergreen surroundings, and to inhale this imaginary ambient.

Three days in this area isn’t enough to appreciate the wildlife, so we had to make it as intense as doable.

The event is still in the infancy as it doesn’t enjoy a high level of awareness among the race community. Hope that changes in the years coming up, as those folks having finished the 2^nd edition echoed unisono that it deserves to be it on par with established events around Europe.

Structurally, the first leg leads up to the highest point, at virtually 2000m above sea level. The downhill is a high-speed enterprise, whereby only a couple of hills are to be negotiated before the finish line is hit.

The 2^nd stage tracks the same classic route of the Horal marathon, covering 106km in the process. The conclusive ‘etap’ is a traditional XC track boosting a 6.6km loop.

The whole event was dominated by none other than the Crocodile Trophy winner, who just happened to win the Salzkammergut Trophy 211km as well as the recent edition if the 7 stage Ironbike. Ondrej Fojtik was the man all racers with high ambitions had a tough time of it with. His relentless manner of riding didn’t give a slight margin of hope to aim higher than 2^nd place. His achievements are all the more remarkable as he didn’t leave anything to chance, thus fought hard to create a tremendous time gap to seal every day stage as solidly as possible.

Marton Blazso, the 2^nd place Hungarian Marathon champ aimed high as well, had to surrender after 2^nd stage though, acknowledging that Fojtik is just having his year, and there is no cure to steal the highest podium place from him.

Adam Pilcik [Ghost Bikes] , another Czech marathon personality had to sing small too, most of all due to Fojtik’s forte to deal with the elements much better the others. And those elements just gave a hard time to everybody. The 2^nd stage reminded us of the hallmark of the Horal: harsh weather. It would be unfair to associate Horal with ruthless whether, though. It is just that, if it turns worse than comfortable, a high whether proof racer-attitude is needed.  And given the parcours character, a good technique is ‘mandatory’.  The route shows his unpredictable face then, and the perfectly ride-able hardpacks turn into a capricious maneuvering. Sadly, rarely rugged alpine vistas are to be had on those moments, just gloomy fog and mist all around. For the most, this day called for reframing from fighting into a survival mode, and just to make it somehow to the finish. Mostly, the battle and hope to get through is based on the concerns whether or not the material is able to keep up with the adversities. Worn down brake pads is the apprehension nr.1, followed by annoying chain sucks for vanishing chain lubing, etc..

Astonishingly tough, the DNF rate wasn’t that high, and given the option to choose from 3 different distances on the 2^nd stage, it was much more viable.

By then, the GC was pretty much cemented. For the final stage there was barely any room to make up lost ground. The final XC stage was a playground for explosive type of riders; however the rather short distance didn’t provide this hope of move up in the GC.

Still, it become a selective final battle as the 2 previous days left little in the storage, let alone fresh legs.

Fojtik showed his true character by expanding his margin even more.  As he revealed to me after nailing down the whole victory: “I didn’t pay too much attention to others. It’s mainly me and the race; just want to deliver my utter most”

Me, I meant to aim for personal contentment and achievement; as high in the GC as possible. I got humbled by seeing the list of contenders prior to the race; it didn’t derail me from my plan, however. My tank is emptying itself after 30 races, though my spirits are so high that it just drives me on and on.

Already at the first stage the good notion, to do reasonable well in the days coming up, was in place. And knowing that it would mainly be about a race of attrition, due to the rough nature of the race, I saw my odds to do top ten, which I more than achieved with 9^th.  I had to play again those cards of an intelligent racing: not to get carried away by facts that are beyond my control-zone. Rather what I could control [pacing, etc.] I did nearly 100%. And that paid off big time. I banked on my experience and calmness and not get distracted by constant comparisons with others. Those that attacked me over the course of all three days had been reeled in just before the finish, yet worse they paid dearly for their hot-blooded surges.

Due to the race modality of point system, it has been anything but easy to calculate the standings. This system was established as on 2^nd stage there were 3 different distances to be opted for. I rode the longest of 106km, thus automatically gained the highest points factored by time, obviously.

The Horal Tour did its homework next to perfection. Their immense advantage is evidently the countryside the race leads through. It touches alpine character as well as moderate geography, i.e. temperate undulating course. This mixture is accomplished with its likable route character that contains the usual ingredients plus some surprise add-ons along the way.

What stood out, however, is the sound standard of the organization. The event enjoys a huge participant part from the neighboring Czech Republic. It has been only due to the lacking awareness of the prospects from other countries. I sense, this fact will take a very positive turn in the next future. The basic element for an established event are done, and given the high ambitions of the organizers, there is more in the ‘pipeline’ remains to be presented soon for the next editions.