I have an announcement (and also a thought)

K. So, there's gonna be a short interlude before I get into my post today. I just want to take a minute of your time (and maybe several minutes of my time while I type this out), to announce my latest sponsor: Skratch Labs. I've been using their drink mix for about a year now, and after my first taste, I knew I had to have more of it in my life. Shortly after, I sprung for their cookbook and portables cookbook, and haven't looked back since. Anyone that's ridden with me in the last year has heard me heap praises upon Skratch Labs, and that was before I got a sponsorship. I loved their stuff that much. It's a company that actually cares about athletes and has a personality.

Unlike some of those other sports drinks, which are "engineered," Skratch Labs drink mix is designed to not only be good for you, but also taste freaking amazing. Those other drinks just taste too sugary, and the thought that they were "engineered" that way just doesn't sit well with me. Skratch Labs drink mix? Designed with real ingredients (that you can freaking pronounce!), including real fruit. And real food is good for you, right? Right. Anyway, give their stuff a try. Believe you me, you won't regret it.

Skratch Labs, thank you for the opportunity to represent you in the coming year. Here's to a fantastic 2014 to us both!

Now, onto the blog post.

Yesterday, I went out on a ride. Shocking, right? It was one of those "ride how you feel" days. If I wanted to ride easy, I could. I had carte blanche to ride as easy as I wanted. But I didn't. For about an hour and change, I went out and set a tough tempo, purposefully flaying myself in a number of sections. Then, today, a few friends asked me about the name of the ride. Who, after all, could my worst enemy be? And why would I go on a ride with them?

Before I get into that, I want you to sit back and think for a minute or two. Think about your last race or group ride. Think about the people who surrounded you at the start. Think about your attitude towards them during your ride or race. If it was a group ride, is there someone on the ride who regularly beats you along a particular section of the ride? Maybe it's a hill. Or maybe it's a long, flat section that lets you haul ass. But during these sections, they always drop you. If it was a race, is there someone there that beats you regularly? And maybe that one time when you've got a gap on them, and you think you've got them, and then they show up out of nowhere to edge you out at the line. Frustrating, isn't it?

Now, think about those days when you're riding with, or racing against, them and you decide, consciously decide, that you're just not even gonna try. Your body tries, but you mentally hold back. And that person just devastates you. Despite your body really, actually giving it everything it has, it's your scumbag brain that holds you back.

Stupid brain. It's just along for the ride, anyway!

Here's the thing, though. I, just like you in those situations, go through the exact same thing. There are days when my brain holds me back. In any workout, any race, any riding event, unless I have a mechanical issue with my bike, or I'm the victim of some kind of outside influence (a blown tube, for instance), if I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, then I have no one to blame except for myself.

And it's on those days, the days I don't feel like riding hard, or riding at all, that it's the most important day to train, and train hard. "But Ray," I can hear you saying aloud to yourself. "If I don't feel like riding, what good is it gonna do me if I do?" It's simple. We've all heard the saying that, every time you spend a day sitting on the couch, somebody you race against is out on the bike, right?

Well guess what. That person you race against? I can guarantee you that they have those days where they don't want to ride hard. And they may give in to that urge to sit on the couch. And suddenly, it's you out riding your bike, and not them. All of a sudden, you're the one building up an advantage. In my book, shutting your brain off, and training hard counts for double miles. Not only are you getting the miles of training into your legs, but you're practicing not listening to the one person who can really shut you down: yourself.

Like I said, if you're in a race, and you don't do as well as you'd hoped, it boils down to one of three things: 1) you have a mechanical. 2) you were a victim of outside influence (such as a crash). 3) you held yourself back. You. But by training on those days when your scumbag brain wants to hold you back, you learn. You learn to not only cope, but to break through the wall you put up in your mind. Like Miley Cyrus, you come in like a wreaking ball.

So the long and the short of it is: those days when you just don't feel like it. Keep that up, and those people you keep having trouble with will soon see nothing but the back of your wheels as you ride away from them. Train hard. Race hard.

Tell me guys. Do you have any methods you use to break through the mental block when you don't feel like riding? What is it? If you don't train on those days, how come? Lemme know in the comment section below!

Till the next one guys, keep the rubber side down, and your skin off the ground!