Yellow Creek - Recap

I almost fell for it.  I almost got sucked in.  

As I’m driving home from the meet in Yellow Creek; I’m thinking about the Andrew situation.  I’m thinking to myself, “why did he get singled out?”  If all of our kids said that they all saw other racers going off course and passing people outside of the trail, why is Andrew disqualified?  Who told on him?  Was it really that close, that cutting 5’ off the course was a matter of winning or losing?  Because when I saw Andrew finish, it didn’t look like anyone in his category was near him.

And I’m starting to get mad.  I’m getting mad because Andrew did really well in our meet on Sunday.  He is one of our best riders.  Then I start thinking about the effects of his disqualification to our team.  Will our sponsors be upset if our team moves down in the standings?  Will it be harder to get sponsors next year, if we can’t say something like “We finished in the to 10 in our first year.”  I’m thinking about goals I have in my own mind for the team.  I’m thinking about parents on other teams, who are hyper-competitive, telling on Andrew, so that their kid can get an advantage in position in the next race.  I’m thinking about registering an objection and appeal with NICA and PICL and fighting for Andrew as a member of our team.  I want to fight for him, because I care about him, and I want him to get credit for for his achievement.  I want the TEAM to get credit for his achievement.

And as I’m thinking of fighting, and appealing and protesting…it hits me: WHAT AM I DOING!!?

- I’m becoming a “them”.  

- I’m letting my own “stuff” get in the way of what’s really important here.

- I’m becoming one of those adults who lets their own competitive nature, begin to be the character of the team.

- I’m getting sucked in.

- I’m letting others ruin it for us.

So I take a breath and start looking at it more deeply.  What really happened today?

- Andrew came in where he came in.  If his infraction was minor - everyone in his category knows it, and they know he is still the guy to beat next race.

- Andrew told the truth.  The race official asked him if he cut the course, and he said that he had.  He CHOSE to be TRUTHFUL. That shows character.

- Sergio could have flown off the handle (a lot of parents may have).  Instead, he stayed calm and talked to the race officials and his son.

- The fact that we might have been singled out, has nothing to do with the rules infraction.  If we broke the rules: we broke the rules and that needs to be addressed.

- The team supported Andrew.  No disappointment was expressed…just support and kind words and condolences for the unfortunate outcome.

So with your permission: I’d like to do nothing about the disqualification.

- I think we are better than the behavior of some of the other race participants and parents.

- I would hope that we are able to handle situations ourselves, and won’t become “That team” of weenies who use technicalities to cover for their athletes weaknesses.

- I would like to think that if we had a problem with something we saw during a racing…we would act like mature individuals bring it to the attention of the person who might be the offending party, and talk it out as competitors.  Maybe, we would learn, why that person did what they did.  Perhaps it was the best option at the time?  Both parties might emerge from the talk with a better understanding.

Bottom line: We (the HAMMERS) are better than this situation.

  • - We are a tight team of AWESOME cyclists.
  • - We smile a lot.
  • - We laugh a lot.
  • - We have fun together and appreciate each other’s company.
  • - We are pretty fit, and healthy, and much better mountain bikers than we were a few short months ago.
  1. I have to remind myself THAT is what is important.
  2. I have to remind myself to keep my eye on the ball.
  3. I have to remind myself that the bigger person can take any situation, and make it into a positive.  Getting into the mud, just makes more negative energy.

I hope you all remind yourselves of those same things, and share my opinion that we are a great team of wonderful people… Official ranking of PICL teams is irrelevant to that fact, and no one can take that away from us.