September will always be an important month for me. Growing up in New Mexico, it meant the start of cold weather for our epic mountain bike rides at 9,000 ft and the annual Fiestas De Santa Fe, when the air is filled with the aroma of fire-roasted green chilis being sold in parking lots all over town. It is also a month of birthdays: members of my family, and mine; and sadly, September is now the month of the tragedy that I personally experienced on the day of 9/11 here in NYC.
But this year, it is the month of my greatest achievement, not only as coach and director of my own team, but as an individual and member of a cycling community here in NYC, Portland, Boulder, among others, or as my sister calls it, “my family away from home".
For some, the competitive summer cycling and triathlon season has started to quickly wind down, but for many of us coaches and athletes, it’s ramping up to the ultimate cap on months of hard work: the big race. Whether that means championship events, the final race in your local race series, state championships, or the even the big dance—a national or world championships—for us who target these events, it means that we worked our butts off for at least ten months, maybe even starting in the previous year. All the smaller races, all the training and carefully planned scheduling during the summer season were designed and implemented with these big targets as the goal.
I’ve been working with a young talent that I took in as my protégé, prepared her for the Age Group National Championships in 2016 where she had a top 15 result, and our work together this year has yielded our greatest season yet with numerous wins and podium appearances in 2017. Allison “Alley Cat” Gadaleta and I teamed up again after a winter break and decided to continue to build on that base level of performance and learn from what we accomplished last year. Our target this year was an even loftier goal: the ITU Grand Final (aka Triathlon World Championships) in Rotterdam, Netherlands. As I write this, she is on a plane headed to Europe to attempt this bid, for which we’ve been preparing all year. I am confident that she will perform above and beyond our expectations.
But I'm not going to write about Allison or our work together this year in this post. If you know us, or follow us on social media, you can see all the racing, training, and daily workings of an entire season built with this goal in sight. Instead, what I'm writing about is the complexity, sincerity and passion of a team of inspired and dedicated athletes, coaches, mentors, sponsors, and supporters that makes up what is now Team EVEPC.
This year, I learned that it takes a lot more than just having a brand logo on a uniform, some athletes, a team car, and a training program to make a team. Just as my athletes needed me to design workouts, provide feedback, help them with equipment, shuttle them and their bikes to races and training, be there to raise them up when they have a bad day or race, and encourage them when they do well, I learned that I needed them and many others to help me as well.
I needed our sponsors, other coaches, my family, silent investors, athletes on other teams, and friends to lean on to realize my vision and goals as a privateer project. I realized I, too, needed a coach; I needed a support team that believed in my process, my work, my athletes and my development as a team director.
Not too long ago, I had a conversation with my own coach who is my contemporary and a close friend. He is a talented cyclist who no longer competes, but trains and supports athletes like myself. I remember telling him, "It's good that you are not racing anymore, because your athletes need to know that you are there for them. Their performance and successes are now your interests, and they need to see that you are there 100% for them.” I truly believed this when I shared it with him; at the time, I thought I would never race again myself, that now was my own time to be the coach and just focus on my athletes.
Several weeks passed, and I noticed a dip in motivation from two of my athletes, a slight lull in what was already stellar season of wins, podiums, top ten finishes, epic training, and general kicking butt! It had been a long season; they were tired. I was tired. We kept to the race calendar as planned, but something was lacking.
I thought about our dynamic as coach/athlete: my constant nagging them to do their workouts, stick to the program and scheduling, critiquing their every race, training session, performance, and always being the guy behind the scenes. I decided at that moment to enter an upcoming race with them.
I dusted off the old race suit and gave it a go. I downplayed it to them, saying that I was just doing it for fun. But what I was really doing was trying to send them a message. I was trying to inspire them in this last month or two after a long season. Trying to show them, "Hey! I'm in this with you! I know what it’s like, I've been there, I'm not just a guy behind the computer picking apart your every pedal stroke, heart beat or power watt!" For years, I, too, raced, and I understand what my athletes are going through. I wanted to show them that I was with them on the same start line that day, experiencing the same anxiety, stress, risk, courage and thrill.
I finished the race, we had fun, we made friends with a fellow competitor, and I was glad I survived! It was my gift to my protégés, to demonstrate solidarity. I don't know if it brought new motivation to them, or that they even realized my motivation in doing it. But I realized that what I said to my coach before was not entirely accurate. Although I do believe that as coaches we need to be 100% committed to our athletes, there are times when being a part of something bigger or being on a journey or path together requires stepping away from the notion of YOU and ME, and instead step towards the notion of WE.
There are other ways to accomplish this, not just by trying to do what they do; after all, we all have our own roles to play. But it did make me understand the significant involvement that I had in my athletes’ lives and theirs in mine. That we are not unlike brothers or sisters, or an extended family, that we are a part each others’ lives, helping each other in both professional and personal challenges and sharing in our successes.
When I look back on this year, I don't define it by the number of podium appearances, wins, shortcomings or struggles. I define it by the development of our friendships and relationships as teammates, the extended network of sponsors and supporters, and by the creation of those moments and memories that framed our goals and exploits this season. All of this is now the big target for me, not just one big race in September. We have already won the big race of this year: we had a great season, built lasting friendships, memories, and became members of a bigger team of sponsors, supporters, other athletes, coaches, and a public following that encourages us all year and shares in our exploits as fans.
I could say my greatest achievement was preparing Allison for a world championship race, elevating her to the next level as an elite athlete, helping her face her competition head on with no fear, and giving her the foundation and confidence that separates her from her rivals. I could say that it was helping Chris realize his potential as a pure climber, helping him tap into that talent, and teach him about structure, patience, consistency, and show him he could hold his own with the fastest riders on the east coast. I could say that it was getting Sarena to experience what its like to put a plan in motion and see that commitment and dedication rewarded and perform above her own expectations by realizing that she is stronger than she thought, and that it was just a matter of putting the pieces together. I could say that it was helping an inspiring organization that introduces cycling to inner city kids as a way to learn about themselves by working toward a challenge and exposing them to a world beyond the few city blocks where they live and go to school.
Although all of these were achievements that I am proud of this year, what I believe is my greatest achievement of this year is what I learned about myself: I faced my own doubts, fears, overcame my own challenges, assembled and looked to a group of supporters, sponsors, coaches, friends, other athletes, my family, and even my own athletes, to help me realize my vision, help me understand the bigger picture, and stay on course. What I learned was that it’s not the singular performance or result that is the achievement, it’s the growth and sharing in all that this sport brings to us, the ups and downs, the time, sacrifices, the success, and all the mini victories of an entire year on this path together...that is the achievement.
An EVEPC former team mechanic and now current mechanic for the Rwanda Pro Cycling team recently explained to me how difficult it is to do many things in Africa due to all the government regulations and control. He said that everyone involved in the team—the sponsors, the athletes, the coaches—they all have to support and help each other, sacrifice and share, and that they could not survive as an organization without each other, so they created a motto - TEAM IS TEAM. He said the only way they can achieve their goals is by committing to the fact that they are all in this together. I now identify with that motto because, Team EVEPC is not just a brand logo on a uniform, nor is it just one coach and a few athletes, it is - Myself, Hermann, Chris, Sarena, Allison, Clarke, Scott, Pete, Rob and Josh, Jason, Tony, Allen, Leslie, Adam, Larry, Justin, Danny, Etai, Devin, Sean, Shane, Stephen, Michael, Lynne, David, Jose, Guy, Lisa, Amy, Cathy, Miguel, Andre, and the list changes and grows every year, but it's also everyone who cheers for EVEPC, supports us, and contributes in their own way that makes up what is now Team EVEPC.
