The 23/07/2011
My birthday and practice day before i was to compete in the veterans category in the National champs .

It's been some time since I updated this blog. My sporting goals have changed by circumstance, weather, age maybe or just by accident.
It's an accident which caused me to rekindle this blog. I have never needed a goal like I need one now so somehow spilling my guts here helps with the motivation to get back in the saddle and start again.
It was on my 42nd birthday that I broke my collar bone for the second time in as many years.
It was the day I blew my chance at becoming a national champion at anything I ever competed in. The recovery I know will be slow given past experience. Work, wife and family will be less than impressed and I have pain in my near future, a lot of it.

I've looked back on the day and the iriony of it. I was in with a good chance of the title only as the fastest guy in the catagory Ian MacIntyre was already out with a broken collar bone.
I had timed myself in practice and had done a sub 2.30 run and I was feeling confident. All the single race runs we'd been doing in our club league in the months leading up to this had really paid off and my head was in the right place. It's this head game that counts in a one race run scenario, as much as training and more than equipment.

All the preparation, from the night spins over the winter, all the sprint work and the weekly club racing count nothing now I'm back to square one.

I had allowed some weight to creep on with all the time I'd been spending on the DH bike the month before the race and it's easy enough to work out this was to my disavantage when I thumped the ground with my shoulder.

Any way square one means new start in my book. I like to be optimistic in adversity.
My wife wants me to quit down hill riding, I'm pretty sure my job does too but when you find something your good at in life it's a difficult, near impossible thing to do. It's like a drug, your self confidence feeds off it, it's an escape from the rigors of life and even your social life get entwined in it.
I'm not giving it up. I can't , a few more years though and I may have to.

Dam my age and this old fat body I wish I'd taken up this sport years ago.
I have loose weight, strenghten up and for the first time in my life it's gonna be hard work.
God how I miss being young.

My goal, well National champion of course. It's probably unrealistic at this stage with me getting older and younger fast riders coming into the catagory every year but you gotta have a goal.
With out goals you can't improve, you can't fail, you can't win, you can't live life to the full.

25/9/2011
It's been 4 week now.
Right after the Champs weekend I went to Spain to join up with my family. To be fair my wife has been good enough about my injury. Knowing her as long as I do she likes her man to be strong and has little patience for weakness. It's the Italian in her I suppose, she's definately not nurse material but she's the mother of 4 boys and my place would be a nut house if she showed too much compassion.
My boys are dissapointed in me, being the age they are sure it's all about them. Now I can't go snorkling with them or go carting or surfing. They remind me daily in Spain how I've ruined their holiday. Well for the first few days anyway.

I changed my ticket to stay in spain and extra week as I couldn't work anyway. I felt my collar bone was healing well but when I returned to Ireland the docs gave me the news. Bad news. The last time I broke my collar bone I had smashed it to bits. It took months to heal and now these old injuries were slowing up my new one's recovery.
Another 4 weeks, out of work , off the bike and just being feckin useless stood in front of me.
Gutted again !

I had let myself go in Spain, an inescapable combination of holidays and depression led to carbiside and now I am sitting at home a big fat useless ejit.

Diet and exercise need a serious looking at but my motivation is low so I need to buck up!

My right arm was just getting back to full strenght after smashing the same collar bone last year. I know already I'm going to have to da a lot of physio.
I think I'm going to make some sort of return to kayaking for the upper body work out it gives. Maybe I'll find the love I used to have for it before the endless rain chasing and rock grinding started. The last few years weather patterns have been a kayakers nightmare .
We'll see.