Saturday, June 04, 2005
You know where you stand, on the wrong side of 35 years of age!
To admit i've truly been had in a race does not come easy. In Action Asia Challenge MAcau 2005, i was. Hitting the wall (going into a state of 'bonk') in a race is not everyone's idea of fun... it certainly was not for me... but it was a learning experience.
To wit, it gives one the perspective of being 'in the other position', a perspective that inevitably has to be visited if one is to keep being motivated to perform optimally. By coming in at a less-than-ideal fifth overall, certainly makes me want to improve myself so i won't have to be in the same position again the next time round! You got to look at it with a positive spin. For a change, i was the sick dog being towed around the course, by my Kiwi bro' Greg Shand, no less. I know i need to put in the miles and the time when all the competitors bunched around you have been doing this sort of thing for years and years, as compared to my paltry 5 years on the scene.
Another interesting aspect was universal truth that youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and experience. I'm in a group where everybody is pushing their mid-thirties, with a handful of forty-plus blokes. My hero would have to be Phillipe Guillo, the HK Obi-Wan of adventure sports. This French gentleman is aged 47, but just keeps going like a diesel engine, along with his 35 year-old mate Al Chalabi. Tough buggers.
To wit, it gives one the perspective of being 'in the other position', a perspective that inevitably has to be visited if one is to keep being motivated to perform optimally. By coming in at a less-than-ideal fifth overall, certainly makes me want to improve myself so i won't have to be in the same position again the next time round! You got to look at it with a positive spin. For a change, i was the sick dog being towed around the course, by my Kiwi bro' Greg Shand, no less. I know i need to put in the miles and the time when all the competitors bunched around you have been doing this sort of thing for years and years, as compared to my paltry 5 years on the scene.
Another interesting aspect was universal truth that youth and enthusiasm are no match for age and experience. I'm in a group where everybody is pushing their mid-thirties, with a handful of forty-plus blokes. My hero would have to be Phillipe Guillo, the HK Obi-Wan of adventure sports. This French gentleman is aged 47, but just keeps going like a diesel engine, along with his 35 year-old mate Al Chalabi. Tough buggers.
