Road to Recovery

Being a athlete is never a easy task. It involves a great deal of sacrifice, dedication, suffering, highs, lows, and a ton of work in the background that very few see. Many athletes do not show you some of their lows points or struggles because most figure why share my low moments and struggles. When I share these moments I get messages from a few teammates at times saying "HEY what are you doing, quit telling people you're injured". I normally respond to them with "I have no secrets and I want to show the good and the bad". I am the type of athlete that truly believes that as long as I do the work and remain fit and healthy I will do well. The competition I often face is not going to let up or make it any easier if I am a 100%, 80%, 60% and so forth. As I continue on this road to recovery I will share it with you when possible. 

Not being yourself sucks and can be depressing if you are mentally weak. After dealing with the pain I encounter from my crash a few weeks ago I do not know how I was able to perform the following week at DPGP looking back on that day. I raced on instinct, the rush, and energy around the event. The human body and mind is an amazing thing the more I reflect back. I love the process of finding that sweet spot as a athlete because once there it is a matter of holding it and controlling it. It is a very fine line of not doing too much or too little to lose it. I have been very fortunate to have a team around me that specialize in fixing broken parts on athletes. Dr. G seen in the picture squeezing and working on my wrist is a gift. Everyone calls him "Dr. G" not just cause he is cool like that but he has one of them unique last names. 

I am not sure if you have seen these crazy guys on two wheeled motor bikes racing in the dirt at high speeds going through jump after jump. He is the guy who fixes many of them when they break something, he also works on UFC fighters which have been there at the office while I was on the table, and the list goes on and on for the athletes he works on. Each day I have been with him for treatment athlete's are flowing through his doors, he calmly works on each of us while making us smile and letting us know everything will be fine. It is one of the coolest things, watching someone work their gift with what looks like easy. That is the beauty of walking in what you were called to do, you make it look easy. 

He has spent time working on me and not just rushing me through the process. You can always tell when someone loves their craft and actually understands what is needed. Some may wonder what type of pain I have been dealing with. It was very difficult and still is slightly for me to put any pressure on my wrist, I basically brusied a bone on the top of my wrist really good, and strained some ligaments on the back side of that wrist. So I had pain on the top of my hand when gripping my hoods or when I came out of the saddle to give an effort it felt like all these tendons and ligaments were pulling apart. Often we do not vaule these parts or pay much attention to them until they are not working properly. When God made us he made all of our bodies to function in harmony, each and every part supports another. When one is out of wack you feel it, especially as a athlete who dearly depend on them. There are 5 points of contact for pretty much most cyclist who have all their limbs. Our butt to the saddle, our right and left hand to our bars or hoods, and our right and left feet to the pedals. Try training, riding, or racing without one of them after being able to your whole life. You will find it to be very tough if you have pain shooting through the whole time. 

I had no choice besides sit it out and allow the body to heal. Rest, treatment, and therapy is always the best tool when injured. It is always best to wait out the process and not rush it. Put a team around you who cares and truly want to get you back whole. I can't thank Dr. G and his staff enough without them my road to recovery would have been that much longer, we are not where we want to be yet but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. If you like you can follow Dr. G on Instagram at "teamdrg".

As you continue as a athlete keep doing the work and if your body is banged up and needs some TLC or RNR go get it so you can perfom like you are capable of. Thanks for taking the time to let me share my journey with you, I wish you an abundance of success in life. GB 

Walking the fine Line

 

Being a Christian and playing sports is an interesting journey but a very beautiful one. Many Christian find it tough to wear their faith on their sleeve and allow others around them who are not Christian see who they are and what they stand for while walking the fine line. Some may question why it is a fine line, it is fairly simple. Most who do not practice or attempt to wear their religion on their sleeve have a little less to lose as far as expectations. If you never promote or let the world know what your beliefs are when it comes to religion many cannot judge you from that area in your life. I will be the first to profess that I have many flaws just like some of my other Christian friends. I have sinned, cussed, said unkind things to and about people and the list goes on and on for my shortcomings. Yet I strive daily to improve on my failures, I make an honest effort to treat everyone with kindness, and respect. I believe we all should aim for this, in my book this is a fairly easy one if you have love inside you. Typically we produce what is flowing within us. It takes a large amount of energy to treat someone nasty, say untrue and unkind things about them, and hold a grudge towards them. Think about how much effort that takes. Why waste this type of energy when it can be used towards love, kindness and respect. It feels better to love, smile, and treat people nice. If you do not believe me try it for a few days, not just with people you like but with the people you dislike as well. You can do it, I have done it many times before and felt so much better after and during the process.

Once while competing I was attacked regarding my religion by a competitor. The individual told me “if you are a real man of God you will do this or that”. It caught me off guard and shocked me that I was being attacked regarding my beliefs and what I stand for. I played it cool and continued being calm and collected my thoughts during the heated discussion and never cracked although I was being pushed and challenged. As a fierce competitor I pride myself on being respectful and not crossing that fine line which can easily be crossed. As Christians we have to be the light and the salt of the earth according to the bible. In my opinon this simply means doing things the right way and setting the tone for how things should be done. Being this at all times is extremely tough while competing because nasty things are said and done in competition it is not the place for the weak or soft. I once was told by a very talented competitior last year "do you want to crash, ok that's better". It was one of the weirdest things, because I would never use that as a tatic. It came across as threat. I can't even understand that thought process but when you have a bunch of talented and very hungry men going after the same prize this raise the intensity to a whole other level and nasty things are said and unseen by those not in the event. This is the beauty of competition, and walking the fine line when challenged. 

How do I say centered in such an intense environment? One of my keys to remaining strong during these intense moments is my ability to stay calm, I also carry my faith with me at all times. Each time I am in battle I know God is with me, and I know my prayers and my Mother prayers do not go unanswered. My mom do not tell me she praying for me consistently but I know she is because of the things I have encountered not just in competition but while out on a leisure ride, riding into work, and training along the coast and in the hills of the Santa Monica Mountains

, and switchbacks of Palos Verdes, Ca. I should have been injured badly several times but I am certain it is the prayers I pray for myself and all of my friends and fellow cyclist that have kept me safe.

Recently I was asked by a close friend of more than 20yrs who does not ride but is a Christian. “Do you share the gospel with your cycling friends”. My response was no, I try to just let my personality and my actions do that for me. I have never been the type to push Christ on anyone, it can be uncomfortable for some and I actully feel a little weird doing so with all my failures and shortcomings. Now if someone was to ask me about Christ or prayer I would be more than willing to talk. My friend later said "I have been given this platform through my success it should be used to share the Gospel". Often I am faced with challenges like this, I question some of them and some I just continue to move past without applying much thought to them at all. 

This blog was somewhat inspired by an article I was reading recently on Stephan Curry of the Golden State Warriors. He is a Christian that excels greatly against the top NBA players in the world. In fact he was voted as the top NBA player for this season. It is interesting how we all are placed in different positions for success and often we just go about ourlives without uplifting, inspring, and pulling the next guy or girl up. As a human being I want to do more always, I strive to do better despite how tough the struggle is to do right with so much temptation, and craziness going on around me. 

I hope you enjoyed this blog about me walking the fine line. I look forward to sharing more writings with you as they come to mind. Keep fighting the good fight, give your all, never lose hope, and never stop beliving in yourself. GB

Taking the risk

Why take a trip 5hrs away from home by plane to a foregin country alone? Well the answer is fairly simple for me. I am single, I do not like waiting on people sometime, and I really needed a break when I decided last minute to book the trip. Often when trying to plan a trip you have to make sure everyone schedules mesh and are willing to take the trip. I am bad at planning at times, when I decided to take this trip it was not a lot of planning that took place I knew I wanted and needed a break from life and all that it entails. Funny thing when I requested my vacation time off away from work I scheduled it for the weekend of a good friends wedding. Before finalizing the trip I later realized oh snapped I can't go that weekend that's Mike's and Pam's wedding weekend. After making the changes to my vacation dates I booked my trip, from there on I was in count down mode. 

Once at the resort I was happy and excited to be away from all the hustle and grind of life. My plan was to do absolutely nothing except eat, sleep, lay on the beach, read a book, and meet new people. I accomplished all of my goals. The beauty of traveling alone is that it forces you to speak to people and meet them. When traveling alone you will notice that pretty much everyone is with someone and very few people are by themselves. I am around people so much that I found it very refreshing being so far away from home where I did not know anyone. I have so many great friends but for the second time in consecutive years I have taken solo trips to a place many miles away. I guess it comes from me feeling like I have the ability to adapt to any normal environment fairly quickly. What I have learned is that I dislike waiting on people to make up their minds if they want to take a trip and all the back and forth that goes along with it. I am the type of person that once my mind is made up I am all in when I want to do something like taking a trip or a break from life. My advice to you if you are single and not in a situation where you feel like you have to take someone with you is to just do it. Take the trip, explore, do not be afraid, you will be surprised how much fun you will have. Also it is good to spend some quality time with yourself, it gives you time to really breath, recharge, rest, and recover. I love documenting my life as many of you know, sharing these moments with you gives them more life. Often we just do things in life and move on to the next thing, and the next thing. Take the time to write about some of your experiences, share them in a blog, picture collage, or on one of your social media outlets. I challenge you to take a break from life, trust me you will not miss much, the work you feel like you can not catch up on will most likely still be there when you return, the training or fitness you feel like you can't put on hold will still be there after the next training session ends. Each time I take a break from something I feel like I need I realize I did not need it that much, but taking a break allows you to see how much you miss it or love it. Keep being amazing wherever you are. GB