Waiting

I'm noticing a pattern in my life.  Maybe I'm trying to build the bridge between  the delayed gratification of competitive cycling and having small things to look forward to.  Maybe I'm just impatient and need to come to terms with it.

The winner of the Topeak-Ergon Base Camp Video Contest gets announced today.  If you haven't seen my entry yet you can watch it here.  

Like any contest, the judging criteria are deliberately vague and the winner is determined by the contest organizers.  I'm OK with that, but I have a hard time wrapping my head around subjective competitions.  In almost everything I do, success is very clear: you finish ahead of certain people or within a certain time, or you build something that works and stays together.  That's probably why I have a hard time watching Olympic gymnastics or ice skating because the competitions are decided by judges, not a stopwatch.   

It's not that I don't appreciate artistry or commitment to one's craft, but determining success based on personal feelings isn't something I'm inherently comfortable with.  That is also probably tied to some personal insecurity or need for acceptance, but I don't want to lean to heavily on my one semester of college psychology classes (especially since they started at 8 AM).

The Pro-35 t-shirt order has been placed and will be ready next week.  I've been collaborating with Cris at Factotum, and I'm really excited about it.  As I've said before, Cris does great work and has real skill when it comes to screen printing.  I posted the proofs earlier this week and I can't wait to see the finished product. 

I've also posted about my 2011 race weapon, the new Moots Mooto X RSL hardtail.  Like any new product, the launch date has slipped back a few times and hopefully it will be sometime this month that it arrives.  In all honesty that shouldn't be a problem since the trails here are still several weeks away from being rideable and I have a perfectly good YBB.  It has less to do with need and more to do with the fact that I've been dwelling on this bike since I first saw pictures of it from Interbike last fall.

Last but not least, it's snowing again.  Not heavily, and it's not really sticking, but it's still snowing and that's definitely within the normal definition of seasonal weather for early April.  It is also part of the normal order of things that snow is still on the ground given how much it snowed this winter, but it means I’ll probably drive somewhere to go mountain biking in the next week or two before I have a mini-meltdown.

All of these things are temporary obstacles, and deep down I know that.  So far my coping mechanism has been to get a cup of coffee and relax, but that also will soon backfire unless I switch to decaf.  It's all coming together, I just need to be patient and enjoy the moment, even if that means riding inside for another few days or doubling up on shoe covers when I ride outside.