Thanks to Scott Owens for the photo. |
As I was finishing my Saturday solo training ride, the weather changed drastically. Winds picked up to gale force, temperature rapidly dropped. An ominous chill and damp grew. The rains quickly came. And the hammering hail. Thundering lightning. Mother nature unleashed her fury on the 200 or so illegal acres we riders like to call home. Sitting in my van hoping golf ball sized pellets would not break the windshield.....
And thinking about the upcoming race season, what would be needed to not only compete, but to win. Recent life circumstances meant things were going to be twice as hard financially. Along with a normal 40 working stiff hours, side jobs were taken in an effort to amass the scratch necessary, as well as selling off parts squirreled away for years. It would have been an appropriate opportunity to take a year off, to "regroup", as they say. But that wasn't good enough. I asked what it was going to take to do this. And in those brief, drenching minutes I was answered.
It was going to take the same energy, the same tenacity, as the storm that was now passing.
It was going to take a fury.
A fury sustained.