I hate training. I said this out loud at my seminar this past weekend at the Philly Bike Expo. And I wasn’t lying. I also wasn’t telling the whole truth. I hate training alone. In all honesty, I hate being alone. It’s something about myself that I’ve come to accept. It’s helped a ton to work with my CTS coach (thanks for putting up with my ridiculousness Jim Lehman!) My idea of being alone is watching tv, listening to something, reading something. That’s not really loneliness, is it?

I’ve recently started meditating, and it’s the most alone time I’ve ever spent with myself on purpose. Just me, sitting there for fifteen minutes in complete silence repeating the same empowering yet peaceful phrase over and over again in the back of my mind. Some days the time passes by quickly, others I find myself glancing at my watch a bunch of times to see if the fifteen minutes are over yet. Regardless, I’ve come to appreciate the practice, even if I don’t completely enjoy it. At the end of the day, I hate being alone, and that’s fine. I’ll accompany myself with movies, and podcasts, and books, and be happy. 

So back to the training. I LOVE riding my bike, but once you throw in some factors that are less than ideal, I’m way less stoked on getting out there. Cold is my biggest enemy, followed by rain, traffic, and loneliness. 

This is the real reason I started Do Better Together. The ends of becoming a professional cyclist definitely justify the means of training, but it’s hard to stay motivated during those dreary winter months. Riding bikes with friends was what got me hooked on racing in the first place. William was burnt out on road bikes and I was in desperate need of a training buddy, so I built a whole thing so I could have a bunch of training buddies! 

I’ve always seen Do Better Together as an empowerment tool. Motivation to keep pushing and to put in the work needed to get where I wanted to go. I’m really proud that it’s entering the fourth year after 3 successful years of goal setting, goal-reaching, prize-winning, and most importantly, community building. I have been able to meet several participants and a few of the prize winners of the years, and it’s always a joy. 

Last year we Did Better Together in real life (DBT IRL) and I was honored to hand-deliver the prize Liv Langma and Giant TCR to the grand prize winners who both just so happened to live in NYC. I loved it so much, I want to do it again. 

This year, we’ll be doing better together in real life wherever the prize winners live. If that’s two places, then that’s what it shall be. So future prize winner, I’m looking forward to coming to your community to hand you a brand new bike and going for a ride with you. 

Registration for Do Better Together 2020 is open and $10 off until December 1st. Register today.