I’m not a competitive person. (Note: this entry is a departure from my usual onslaught of sarcasm.) The term “competition” denotes two or more people seeking the same goal under conditions that force a win/lose outcome. The structure itself ensures failure for everyone. This is inherently wrong so I don’t consider myself competitively driven. This may counter intuitive for those of you who know how hard I compete.
Competition is further problematic because it is entirely relative. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how well you do; if you’re up against the right person, you will win or against the wrong person, you will lose. So, the “win,” in and of itself, is meaningless. The caveat to good competition is evenly matched competitors. When you are lucky enough to find yourself in this situation, competition is at it’s best. Above all, in a competitive situation, the most important factor is for the competitors to play their best. Winning is much less important than performing well.
So why do I ride and race so much? Read more
I continue here with Part 2 of my series of sarcasm. In Part 1, I talked about the value of excuses. Now I feature some recommendations for ensuring your dominance in the cycling community.
The first I’ll share is the ego-boosting technique of talking big. Actually, talking big does more than just boost your ego, it skyrockets your social stock. The important prerequisite for big talk is to make sure you know the size of the water before you open your mouth. When in a small pond, with the smaller fish, unleash confident and bully-like speech. Feel free to back it up with a little throw down on some rides, but only if you know it is a school of smaller fish. Common techniques to assert your dominion include tall tales, talking down others’ accomplishments, spouting unfounded tech or training knowledge, and needlessly using lots of curse words in your speech.
But, when you come up against alpha dog you roll over with legs splayed. You know your order in the social stratification, so you must cower to their authority. However, make sure the smaller dogs don’t see you on your back. You can resume your bigness when you’re back amongst the smaller fish. Feel free to even talk the big dog down when they’re not around. Above all, never question them to their face. This is a very difficult juggling act, but it can be done. Read more
