Sacrifice

I woke up this morning with extremely sore legs.  The kind of legs that would make you think you were in the Tour de France. Yet it didn't stop me from partaking on yet another four and a half hour ride through the beautiful Santa Cruz Mountains to complete a full week of training on the bike. I must say, some of the views I encountered today were postcard worthy. There's an incredible view on one of my routes on top of Skyline Blvd where you can see all the dark green mountains leading themselves towards Santa Cruz as well as an entire view of Monterrey Bay.

I wanted to discuss something that has been on my mind. Recently, someone told me that ever since I started cycling "I've lost my personality." This upset me when I first heard this. Something to know for all you non cyclists out there,  in one year cyclists sacrifice more than the average person would in their entire lives. Case and point, I skipped my prom last year so I could go race the Junior State Road Race Championships. I ended up getting sick a few nights before so I ended up not doing either of those. Of course I was upset, but it was a choice that I made.  The last thing I want to sacrifice is my personality. Behind every cyclist there is a person. Behind names like Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, or Andy Schleck there are people. So it really wouldn't make since to sacrifice that. But I do understand how people might see that my personality has changed. I wouldn't say I have lost it, but rather changed it. I've changed it to fit the kind of lifestyle I'm choosing to live.

I would say it's safe to say that my knee has healed 100%. I'm back to the normal training with twice as much stretching. I'm very excited for some of the races coming up. I look forward to completing my season with some more results. Thanks for reading.