Quarter of a century!

We have had a great time over Christmas, the kids and Kate have enjoyed themselves and we have had a busy time meeting family and friends.
I had a training session on my bicycle, on boxing day, using a Sunnto T6 heart rate monitor. An excellent piece of equipment, which, I will describe in more detail, another time.
I also had a great practice session on my Honda. Using the new techniques to help me with my concentration, I felt great riding and I had so much fun.

On my way back from working on the track this morning, I was still thinking about how much fun I had, yesterday. This lead me on to thinking how great it is that at 33 years old, I love riding bikes.

When I was a kid (around the age of 7), I remember that as soon as I got home from school, I would throw my school bag in the hall, get my B.M.X. and ride the wheels off it, making jumps and tracks, to race myself around. I started riding motocross bikes when I was 8 years old and started racing the year after.

I have been riding motocross for 25 years and still absolutely, love it. I am consumed with it and now, more than ever, my desire to fulfill my goals can be felt in my body.
The feeling I have is just below my heart and is quite tight, warm and in the shape of a smooth, large pebble (about the size of your fist), This is a reason why I am unable to be 'less serious'!
This also demonstrates the reason why I need to take a different approach to my racing, so that, I will achieve my goals.

Dark,cold mornings...

Swimming is great, My heart rate is reaching quite high numbers, there are recovery periods and my speed and technique is improving.

Also, it's a great way to wake up in a morning.

I started swimming at 7a.m. this morning, as I left the house, it was dark, cold (approx -1), the padlock on the gate was frozen and the van windows frozen over. What kind of picture do you have in your mind?

For me it was great, the cold, still air smelt really clean and felt fresh as I took deep breathes in, a small number of birds where singing because the day is starting. The sun will be coming up in a short time and the ice sparkles on my white van. The warm water that I was pouring onto the windscreen felt soft on my hands and the van engine sounded great, ticking over, as it was the only other sound other than the birds and when I get in my van to leave, I am leaving to improve my fitness, to help me reach my goal and the method to do this, is swimming, Fantastic.

I really enjoyed training this morning!

Swimming

Whilst I feel like pulling my hair out because I have no current training programme, I have decided that, I will kick back and enjoy the festive period.
There is no alternative anyway! Our kids are really excited that Father Christmas will be here soon and I get excited because they're excited and the result is a very lively household.
In fact, you may be mistaken for thinking that it is Christmas every day in our house!

By kicking back, I will be using parts of my old swimming programme. I say parts of it because it involves different types of easy and hard sessions. The parts that I will use from this is only the the harder sessions.
As my fitness has improved, I find that the easier sessions are too short and I love swimming so much that I like to train for at least 30 minutes. The harder sessions usually last around 40 minutes.

So, I guess, I will be kicking forwards, rather than kicking back, this Christmas!

Concentration

Two days ago, I had a practice day on a hard pack track (soil dirt with stone/rock underneath). It's the first time I have riden hard park scince July and I enjoyed it so much.

My speed was acceptable to me because I knew where, I am to improve and I am beginning to reproduce the feelings I had when my speed was at it's best.

I did, however, learn a very important lesson. Whilst I was practicing, there was a small group of riders having a training session. During my 3rd practice session, my concentration went from 'keeping on the correct line' to 'what is the group doing at the side of the track'. My concentration only went on to the other riders for, may be, 10 seconds, however, the consequences after that where that my thoughts went onto telling myself off for letting this happen, which went on for, may be, another 30 seconds. During this time I made lots of small mistakes, missing my line in turns and getting the entry in to turns slightly wrong.

The lesson that I have learned from this experience, through some coaching I have received, from Ashley Scott at Mindracing, is that I need to make sure that next time I practice (and each time after that!), I channel my concentration in to specific areas for each session.

Pratice

Today, I have been riding on a bumby, deep sand track. It was great and a lot of fun. I know how fast I want to ride my bike and at the moment I will need to build it up and it will come back.

A little patience, plenty of discipline and a lot of practice is required.

Race against time!

For the past 12 weeks I have been doing the easy part of achieving my goal....becoming psychically fit and getting bikes to ride.

Having a psychical training programme has made getting fitter, really fun and easy, however, before I started my training, I made a commitment to myself, that I would not throw myself completely into my motocross training until I was in a position where I can race for the whole season, to avoid 'resource depletion'.

This I am finding my biggest challenge as, I am nearly their with support, however, I really could do with some more, of which, I will keep seeking.

I have found a new area that I want clarity, I need to produce, quick and effective results with my bike training and therefore require a specific training programme. This I am working on and I will write about the programme as I get it completed.

What I am finding tough at the moment, is being so motivated to achieve my goals and not letting myself loose on my bike training, which I have in the workshop waiting to go. Also, I am very aware that my first British championship race is on March 11th, this is only 13 weeks away!

Perception of effort Vs Actual heart rate...with a difference

I've had a session in the gym this morning and for the first time in many months, I used a treadmill.
I really enjoyed this session and what was really fun was noticing how my body was responding as I went from one training zone in to another.

On my first set, I started in my higher sub-aerobic zone ( I wanted to be inbetween my lower and upper aerobic zone). To get my heart rate into the next zone I increased the pace gradually. Without looking at my heart rate monitor I could feel that I had entered the lower end of my aerobic zone as my breathing changed from light breathing to controlled heavier breathing. I could almost feel my body starting to use a different energy system.

Towards the end of the session, as the stress of the exercise was increasing (due to the length of time exercising), my heart rate had climbed to the ceiling of my aerobic zone.
I can tell that I stayed in the right zone as my breathing was still controlled and heavier than earlier in the session, however, I know that, when I pass this point into my anaerobic zone my breathing is laboured and the stress on my body feels more taxed compared to the aerobic zone.

I would be really interested, to see, how close my perception of each training zone is compared to results from an actual maximum fitness test with specific heart rate numbers!

And so continues, my interest in, Perception of effort Vs Actual heart rate

Getting the bike dirty...

Well, I have been out three times on my bike now and it's tough. At the moment my speed is low and my bike fitness is poor. I have a lot of work to do and some planning to improve my bike fitness.

I am really pleased with the weather at the moment, we have had some rain, however, I've still been able to ride and this is great.

Mental Adaptation

As I have mentioned below, to get different results to the past, I need to take on different approaches in my preparation and so on. Therefore, visiting Jacky with a new bike and preparing it before the bike has even been started, is a totally new approach, which seems now, completely obvious.

So, as my body takes on physical improvements through adaptation, I feel that, for me, I have taken on mental adaptation.

This means that instead of rushing to meet deadlines and not having enough time for anything (this is how I used to frequently feel), I am now in a position where I spend most my time planning & preparing.

This is really important for me, to keep practicing, if I am to attain my goals.

Dutch trip and Mixed emotions

I have just returned home from a great, productive trip to Jacky Boerman's house in Holland. The purpose of the trip was to collect my repaired Yamaha, which broke earlier this season and to prepare my new bike, suspension, carburetter & engine settings. We spent 45 minutes testing the bike at a typical Dutch track, really deep sand.
I felt rusty to start with and was very pleased with how the bike ran and handled.

I experienced some mixed emotions during the trip. Mostly, I was excited, a little sad leaving my family and then, excited about the trip, meeting Jacky and his family, the new bike, riding, travelling, collecting the Yamaha and so on.

The mixed emotions came when I left Jacky's. I felt a little sad when I left because we have a good relationship and I feel comfortable with the whole family.
This made me think about when I meet people. I have a tendency to become very relaxed and comfortable with people who I meet and form great relationships. This is great, as I have a lot of friends who I only see occasionally because they live in different countries or a long distance from my home in the U.K.

The mixed emotions, however, came from when I left and feeling a little sad to be leaving the Boerman family. My next thoughts moved onto getting home and seeing Kate and our kids.
Something didn't quite feel right.

I then noticed, that, I still had the feeling off leaving Jacky's when I started thinking about Kate and the girls and was therefore feeling sad when thinking about them in stead of being excited.
Once I had changed my mental state to being excited about seeing my family, I felt great and really enjoyed the trip home.

Review & Reward

Whilst coaching recentley, with a rider who I have been involved for sometime now, a conversation came up regarding 'review & reward'.
This is an important part of any goal, as I feel it is important to escape from my sport completely, to be able to keep fresh and charged to keep pushing for the best results I can get. As I get closer to finishing my goals at the track and coming to the end of the year, it is time to review where I am now (Am I on track for reaching my future goals?) and I am certainly looking forward to a planned meal out with friends who I have been working with this season.

Sleep

As my training sessions become more challenging I have been struggling to maintain the balancing of my wheel (see blog below).

For the last 6 weeks (at least) I have been busy giving all areas of my life 100% and this means that I usually get, around, 7 hours sleep a night.
My training programme is set up in a way that I have good recovery training sessions after harder sessions. What I am noticing, now, as my training sessions get harder, I need more sleep for my body to recover and for adaptation to take place.
I feel great for getting 8 to 8.5 hours sleep and will now need to get even more done in the day to enable me to have a good time in the evenings and get to bed early!

Actual heart rate vs Adverse weather conditions

As my training sessions start to change, I have become aware of different techniques of riding my bicycle to get the correct results for the sessions.
I know that, riding with a high cadence (the number of times my pedals do a complete cycle in a minute) I save energy, because it is more efficient. I like this because the higher my cadence the faster my body is moving, which I believe will help me on my motocross bike.
However, to keep my HR (heart rate) high, for a longer period of time, I find it easier to use the top ring on my front gears. This increases the wattage (harder to pedal) and bumps up my HR, although my body is moving slower, my legs are getting stronger.
My conclusion is that, so long as my HR is in the correct zone, either way is just as effective!

Something else that I have noticed is that, at this time of year, my cycle route, which heads South,East,North, then West has a head wind all the way around the circuit. This is great, the stronger the head wind, the more effort is required and it becomes easier for me to hit my HR target and the last thing I think about is cadence!
Likewise, if it is cold or raining, my motivation for working well is to keep warm!

Posture

In 1989, racing in a schoolboy British championship round, I had a crash and broke the 3rd bone down in my neck and had a compression fracture in my lower back. Of which I have recovered with no physical problems. However, I do feel that there was a turning point for me with my posture.

After having a 'halo' removed from my head (a metal frame work connected to a body piece) I was fitted with a collar which fitted around my chin, back of head and part way down my back and front. This was to be made from a plaster of paris mold first.
Whilst the doctor was making the cast around my shoulders, as I sat on a stool, she told me to relax. I replied that I was. She then asked me to relax even more, so I slumped my shoulders forward to relax even more. After wearing this collar of 6 weeks, my muscles and tends had adjusted to fit this shape. To me, it felt great to be collar free and was unaware of any change in my posture.

Over time and through training my shoulders are more square and I still need to think about my shoulders being back.

On my visit to Sheffield University I meet a person who assessed my body flexibility and strength. After performing some specific exercises he was able to point out my weak areas and without telling him before hand he pointed to where I have had passed injuries.

He gave me specific exercises to do, to improve my strength and posture. Along with the exercise and consciously reminding myself to keep my back straight and shoulder blades flat to back, I am very slowly getting to where I want to be.

This has also made me realise that there is no need for motocross specific exercises. A body is a body and needs to have strength in the right places to hold correct posture, whether you are a motocross rider or a Badminton player, being able to hold your body with good posture will allow you more efficient power as well as increased balance.

First time rider - Kate

Today has been the first day, my wife, Kate, has ridden her TTR125 four stroke bike.
We had already practiced using the clutch to find the bitting point and moving roughly one metre.

After 5 minutes instructing, in the car park at my track, Kate was off and riding very well for the first time on a bike, using the gears and going quite fast around the outside of the car park.
It was fantastic to see her face lit up inside her lazer helmet.

After riding around the outside of the car park, I set her the challenge of riding around an oval marked out by two cones. Again after a couple of minutes instruction and a demonstration from myself (I really want to ride as well!), Kate started to ride really tight lines and looked comfortable, even though she was having to consciously think of all the skills she was learning.
Women, tend to be able to process more chunks of information per second, then men do and this gives good reason for women to be good at multitasking!

Kate was loving riding so much that she wanted a go on the main track. That was it, she was off and even managed to get some air on a table top jump!

We left the track after Kate had ridden for nearly two hours solid and I came away feeling quite emotional because Kate was so happy and pleased with herself after having so much fun. I felt overwhelmed because I was able to give something to Kate. Ever since knowing Kate, she has supported me, in motocross and now I can give her something back, something that she wants to do.

Mental discipline

Today, I have experienced the flip side to Perception of effort vs Actual heart rate.
My recovery ride this morning needed to be below 140 bpm and the closer to 120 bpm the better. This is a really easy ride and took mental discipline to keep at the required heart rate.

I am so fired up to get the results I want, that when training, I just want to rip everything up at 100 mph. So, to make sure I kept in the correct HR zone for recovery, I had to keep checking my monitor to make sure that my perception of effort was in fact where I needed to be - 120 to 140 bpm.

It is really important, for me, to recover after more strenuous training sessions as this will allow my body to adapt to the stress of the hard session from the previous day.
The largest gain in fitness comes from the recovery period rather than the hard session itself!

'Perception of effort' vs Actual heart rate

On my cycle training session this morning, I gave thought to two parts, which seem to me, are closely linked:- Actual heart rate and 'perception of effort'.
This session was an aerobic workout, which means that the muscle groups in use are using oxygen for energy supply and improves general fitness. I was working at the higher end of this zone and set off on the ride with having a heart rate (HR) slightly over 156 beats per minute (BPM) (as worked out for my programme). The perception of effort, was to be 'somewhat hard'.

I found this interesting, as I was riding and consciously checking that my HR was slightly over 156, I would agree with myself that my perception of effort was 'somewhat hard'.
The further I got into the session the more I concentrated on my varied music (from the MP3 player!) and would consciously think about my 'perception of effort' to check how I was doing.

Getting into a rhythm and felling really at one with the bike, I glanced at the HR monitor to see that I was riding 163-165 BPM.

My thoughts snowballed on to thinking of my time doing a maximal HR test at Sheffield University. To check if a person is over training, the staff use a questionnaire. No fancy tests, just answer some questions.

If answering questions can tell you if you are over training, who says you are over training?
It can only be yourself.
So, if my 'perception of effort' is a higher HR than I should be training at (even if my HR is in a different zone) then, so long as I think my perception of what I am doing is equivalent to the sessions 'perception of effort' no over training should occur.

I will continue to monitor this as my sessions get harder!

If any men reading this think you my be over training, one of the questions for over training is: Do you have a woody when you wake up in the morning?
If you normally do and this stops happening, it's possible you are over training!

Win/Loose mentality

In the book '7 habits of effective people' the strategy of win/win situations is promoted and I think that has been a drawback for me in the past where I have used this in racing.

Racing requires a win/loose mentality.

The sequence of photos above is from a race I competed in, in Iceland. I won the first race easy and on the first lap of the second race I hit a hidden rock whilst leading and fell. I quickly moved up to second place and settled in to the leaders pace. As the race went on I had worked out where I would make my pass at the end of the race. The pace was quick and at one point I did wonder if I could win the race. However, it was very important to me to win the race and at this point the win/loose strategy was put to use.

It would have been great if he had stayed on because the last two laps would have made a great race even better. As soon as the race finished I went over to congratulate him on the great race!

Choosing to respond.

Being so busy, attending the bike show,meetings and building our shop has left me feeling frustrated and angry with myself for missing two training sessions in the week.

So, I spent a little bit of time thinking. I know that these feelings came from 'unfulfilled expectations' (I wanted to do the training as well as the other jobs) .
I then realised that I had chosen to do the jobs that,to me, had a higher priority. I need bikes to race, regardless of my fitness!

From reading '7 Habits of effective people' I am awear that there is a gap between something happening (Stimulus) and how I act to what has happened (Response). This is great because now I am aware of this I can choose to respond in away that empowers me. I have done this with my own thoughts realising that bikes are more important than fitness.

So, these frustrating feelings subsided and I was able to concentrate on making sure I could get out for my next session as soon as I could.

That session came today in the form of a Lactate Threshold (LT) cycle ride. I absolutely love these sessions. It requires riding the bike as fast as I can for 1 minute with 1 minutes recovery and repeating a total of ten times (After warming up and finishing with a cool down!).

My hear rate was quite low (only reaching 170-175 in my minute sprints) compared to results in the past, so I know, I need to make extra effort to perform these sessions to the best of my ability to get improved results. I must admit that the last two sprints where loud with the breathing and I had the feeling of wanting to be sick and I still LOVE these sessions!

Usually, I ride with headphones on and listen to the radio on my phone, it's a twenty mile road circuit I use and it's great to listen music as I ride. Today though, I have downloaded a few albums from my computer, D12, Jamiroqui,Now55 and Otis Reading, on to an MP3 player (I used to use a Mini ipod) and I was looking forward to listing to D12. Instead, I got the first track from each album and then the second track and so on. So, although I only hear my breathing on the hard sections of the ride, the recovery sections varied between rap, pop and soul music!

Cusworth bikes and Honda

I have been working with Custworth bikes to create a shop at my circuit Doncaster moto parc and I believe that we have truly produced a win/win situation.
It is important for me to keep customers riding all day when visiting us, allowing riders to replace any broken bike parts to keep their bikes running and for Cusworths to increase there turnover whilst reaching new customers and more awareness in the motocross sector.

With help from my dad (a joiner by trade), we have managed to turn our signing on container into a shop with a counter and slat walling to hang products on, this looks great and will help us be more efficient with riders signing on and the shop itself.

In between converting the container, I had a meeting with Kevin Williams from Honda and Chris Hall at Custworths and secured a deal that will allow me to use 6 bikes throughout next season (shown above).

These meetings are the end result of me exploring other opportunities to race with different teams and manufacturers and as soon as I had realised that riding Honda was a possibility, it was amazing how much drive I had to make sure riding Honda was the outcome.

I know, deep down, that Honda's are the best bike for me and that I produced excellent results in the Grand Prix and British Champs when riding them.
I also know that my mechanic from 2000, a Dutchman called Jacky Boerman, has great suspension settings, for me on Honda and will be able to produce an awesome engine and bike as a hole.

Jacky is an incredible mechanic and engineer and I would love to be able to acquire his services for the next three seasons.

Motorcycle show

A week can go so fast!
This week has been the motorcylce show at the N.E.C in Birmingham. I had been invited to go with Chris Hall who is the owner of Cusworth Bikes in Doncaster. A family business that has been running for over 50 years and is one of the biggest motorcycle dealers in South Yorkshire.

Whilst at the show we had the opportunity to speak to the right people at Honda, arranging a further meeting and secured sponsorship from the oil company Motul. I am really happy about this as it is outstanding oil and it is important to be able to keep replacing the oil regularly to enable the bike to perform at it's best.

Racing is getting closer!

Riding blind

Geoff had come to our house early so we could go out for a training ride on our racers.
Geoff has cycled from Lands end to John O'Groats (another future goal for myself!) so I was looking forward to getting out on the 'treader's' with him. Another thing I was really looking forward to was using my Polar S725 heart rate monitor that I had only got back that morning (The batteries had been replaced).
This made the ride, a ride of relief, as I could actually relate my perception of effort, from previous rides, to the actual level (specific heart rate) of the ride itself.
I am really pleased with the results because even without the heart rate monitor on I have been riding in the correct HR (heart rate) zones. I will explain about hr zones another time.
So, there is no more riding blind and from now on I can ride with a lot more precision.

Goals and a Clear mind

I went to a family Halloween party on Saturday night, at my parents house and it was great fun.
We had invited our friends from Oxford, Geoff and Jo Goddard and their daughter Frayer.
I meet Geoff 14 years ago as an agent who would take care of my race entries and we became very good friends.
As we got to know each other Geoff had read a book call 'Unlimited Power' by Anthony Robbins. This book was my first insight into psychology, I was aware that racing was not just about the bike and there was alot to do with the mind. Unaware of any mental techniques, this book, to me, was very fascinating and would be the starting point in my interest in psychology.
As I have mentioned below, I have very clear pictures in my mind (internal representations) of how my future will be and I know that in three years time (December 2009) I will qualify to be a sports psychologist.
As you read this now, I am very excited and I am looking forward to this time in my life, even though, I will need to go through the process of achieving my dream first.
The great thing is, regardless of winning, I still have many things to look forward to when this time is up.
When I decided to finish racing in 2004 I felt like a broken man with nothing to live for.
Having goals and a clear mind is very fulfilling.

To set goals, I have used an anagram. SMARTER. Each letter is the start of a word and each word is what you need to consider when setting effective goals.

S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Achievable
R = Reasons
T = Timed
E = Empowering
R = Review and Reward

This is what I consider as training to be world champion and I still have done no riding!!!

Tracking

My work with Mindracing had produced an awareness to a number of conflicts that I had running in my life. This is where I have previously mentioned 'thinking in solitude'. I needed to work out what the conflicts were and what effect these where having on my everyday life.
I needed to consider what consequences would occur as I made decisions to change my life style in a proactive way.
This was easy, as I had decided (subconsciously) to become responsible for my decisions. The consequences of any change in direction was made by me.

To become a winner I will require three attributes.
1. The business to be running smooth and efficiently and have support from my family at home.
Amazingly (to me), as my business runs smoother, it has enabled me to train (Physically) more and spend good time with my family, even though I am still busy.
From this, I now have full support from my family and this has warmed me up, inside, so much. It's a feeling that I want to keep and will make sure I keep putting the effort in, to make sure I keep 'balancing the wheel' and avoid any more conflicts.

2. A process that I am currently dealing with is making sure I avoid 'resource depletion', before I start riding I need to have everything in place to race for a complete season. When I have achieved this I will be very happy, relaxed and I am sure that my bike training will come on very quickly. I am looking forward to this outcome.

3. I will concentrate on 'tracking'. By tracking my diet, physical training, motocross training, bike settings and testing of different products(on the bike and food) I will be able to measure my progress and eliminate, as much as possible, room for doubt.

Clear internal representations and sponsoship

Spending more time developing the track has help me create very clear internal representations of how I would like the circuit, future business developments and personnel life to be and time scales to go with them.
This alone gives me great motivation and a sense of urgency to do my best to make opportunities happen and, as with 'balancing the wheel', this is taking effort and is getting easier.

For this season I received sponsorship from Volkswagen Van Centre (West Yorkshire), Alex Trans, North West Mountain Bike Centre, mindracing and nmdesign.

In order for me to race in 2007 I will require sponsorship on a larger scale and I will go into this another time.

Balancing the wheel

For the last 3 months I have been working mainly at my track Doncaster Moto Parc. I need to have the circuit at a standard that I am happy with. I am almost there, the track looks great, the staff are more organised and practice days are running alot smoother.
Whilst concentrating on this, the 'off road facilities guidelines' has been published. This document is the result of input from myself, two other circuit owners and Dave Luscombe(from the A.C.U), who generated the main components of the document. I am proud to be apart of this as it will help other circuit operators set up safe practice facilities. Also I have become an ACU motocross coach assessor (something which I didn't think I was capable of doing in the past).

To achieve my goals in racing I have spent alot of time in areas that have very little effect on my ability to improve my bike skills as I have only spent a minimal amount of time on a bike.
Do I still want to race? You bet.
I have been balancing my wheel (Keeping sport/career,relationships,personnel development,wealth,family,spirituality and health and fitness equal). It has taken effort and to start off with I found it hard to consistently keep a balance, I am still working on that balance and it is now becoming easier.

My relationship with my wife has improved so much so that Kate now has her own bike and will come riding with me when I go training. This is awesome!

Using information from previous maximal fitness tests I have started training so that in 8 weeks my fitness and strength should be at a level which will be just right for when I start training on my motocross bike. I will know this when I have the next maximal fitness test!

The Challenge

In February 2004 my preparation for competing in this seasons British four stroke championship was going really. I had just returned from a three week trip in America and I was riding at a speed quicker than the MX2 world champion Jamie Dobb.
I went to practice at an indoor track where the consequences of an accident had a dramatic impact on me which would crush my unconscious mind to the point that within three months of racing I had decided that I had had enough and it was time to stop.
After making this decision it would leave me an empty corpse and give my wife and kids a tough time.
Over time, I got over my decision, however, I still felt unhappy that I had left my dream unfulfilled. I am still burning inside to win the Four stroke British championship and MX3 World Championship. A huge challenge, which I am determined to enjoy.

I was fortunate to meet Ashley Scott, a sports psychologist, at an A.C.U. Coaching seminar (Coaching is something I really enjoy). Ashley gave me the answers I needed to start this challenge and a blank sheet to work on.
* I should point out that this blank sheet I have started working from is the result of a life changing appointment with Ashley, who I have got to know and received a great deal of help from scince.

So, while I was working in Iceland (coaching and racing) I had started to rebuild my fitness and riding so I was ready to compete in the 2006 season. It felt great, I was training as if I was already world champion and having good results with my training. However, as the season started I began to have problems which where a lack of preparation for a seasons racing. I had over looked my life style. As a pro rider everything was great, I had good speed and fitness and a mental awareness that I hadn't experienced before. This was quite a big part of a whole circle and had not noticed consciously that my relationship with family,relationships, and wealth(work) where very out of balance.
I read a book called 'The 7 habits of effective people' and with some help from Ashley (who suggested the book) I realized that to get different results compared to the past, I need to change in a way that would allow me to get my new desired results.
This would require thinking in solitude. Usually I would ask for as many peoples advice as possible. I had learned from the book how to become independent and I think that this was my first step in making changes in my self-development.