Old times

Whilst I am unable to race or ride, I am finding it challenging to keep my thoughts away from being on a bike. Yesterday, I decided to clear out an old set of draws in my garage so I could create some more space and for a chest of four draws it took a long time.

The draws were full of old photos and Grand Prix timed result sheets. It was great fun looking through them and I noticed that when I used to win my races in the schoolboys (up to the age of sixteen) winning and racing was so easy. I also realised that I have many, many happy memories.
As I look back at some of the lap times from the races, I feel like kicking myself, as in one particular race, my best lap time was three seconds off the fastest time in the race. I know now that this is nothing considering that my start position for this race was really at a disadvantage (right on the outside), and I came from the back off the pack to 17th position, two places outside the points. I feel like kicking myself because back then I didn't know I was fast enough to be well inside the top ten, or, that I was stopping myself from doing it. Even though I had the race results (lap times) showing me that I could.

I think that , for me, setting my high goals and finding that I need to change to be able to get better results, the journey is making me a much better person, and, for this, I am grateful.