G’day folks.  There is a fair bit of juice to catch you up on from the past week or so.  There have been some hectic times and whilst I could paint you all a rosy picture, I figure, screw it, wouldn’t you prefer to hear it the way it is?  Is a reality TV show really reality?  Like come on!  Gordon Ramsey can’t possibly swear that much!

I think I may write this in a few parts so that you don’t all switch off midway through an entry and log back into facebook.  The average viewer…hmmm, let’s use voyeur, it sounds kinkier…..on www.ben-day.com, spends an average of 3 minutes and 9 seconds reading my carefully calculated rendition of life’s tales.  But I would hope that the average user realizes that calculated rendition is more like writing without thinking, which I can also see that you people respond to, looking at my hit count.  Wow, what a beginning to this piece, it’s like I’m caressing you with your words….or is that because I am just a little delirious from time trialling on antibiotics?

Oh where to begin, where to begin.  Let’s start with the recent racing and then I will tell you a little what’s on my mind.  It feels fairly chock-a-block (full) at the moment.

Let’s throw the title of this piece in here: “You Win Some, You Lose Some, but Persistence Prevails.”  In fact this little motto is going up on www.daybydaycyclecoaching.com as I am sure you can all relate to this.

Last Sunday was a local individual time trial and team time trial in Boulder that I came away a winner at last year.  This year my heart wasn’t in it, my head wasn’t there, and I was sick.  Throwing all caution to the wind, I lined up anyway and promptly got beaten by a storming Peter Stetina.  Pete is a young bloke riding for the development Garmin-Chipotle team this year.  I noticed him in San Dimas last year when he beat everyone but Oscar Sevilla up the mountain prologue time trial.  The kid has talent, is starting to go fast on the flats as well, and will have prominent future in the sport.

I crept….ie – went slowly, hacking and wheezing and not on top of my form and finished 3^rd.  You win some, you lose some.  A month ago, I had great form, since then I have taken a break but also been embroiled in some bull$h*t outside of my training regime that has strangled the energy out of me.  One hour later I got together with a couple of my Boulder mates, Chris Baldwin, Chuck Coyle, Alessandro Bazzana and Seth Rubin.  We were a little all over the place, but had fun in the process and came in 2 minutes 30 seconds in front of the next team.

I went home that night with the thought in my mind that the last thing that my body needs right now is to drive 10 hours to Silver City, New Mexico and race a 5 day altitude stage race….one which is never particularly easy.  Negative thoughts promote negative energy and it’s amazing where that can take you.  Persistence is key.