Thursday, May 01, 2008

cant please everyone

over the years i have learned, at work mostly. in person sometimes.
i cant please everyone. i dont try that hard to anymore. i just do what i do and if they complain i say oh well.

if you ever have sold anything on ebay then you know partly what im talking about. the stupid email questions, the complaining over sizes and different colors of items. mostly because they didnt read, their monitor colors are off or they have buyers remorse. sometimes i make mistakes and try to fix it.

but alas, they complain, and i get flamed. 1% at my volume compares to around 100 or so complaints a year, roughly. so i end it promptly and move on.

but some dont, they like to bitch and moan. for months.

i like to drive to places check out the roads, i hate flying. not the plane part, but the loads of people. the sick ones, the bitchy ones, the long lines, the delays. etc. all the bad. so i drive as much as possible.
gas is a lot, so its not that much more and its a lot more in other countries. so someone says the obvious.
change your air filter
pump up your tires

same on the bike. if you want to ride faster, or climb better, lose weight and pump up your tires. breath properly.

simple to say, harder to do.
well the tire part is easy., also only sometimes.
as you may know i like skinny lite weight tires pumped up to 50 most the time. for some, this may kill them. ripping a set up like that down a rocky trail doing 30 or 40mph in places will test your mettle.
or a 2 wheel drift on what seems like a hard pack sidewalk covered in small gravel or sand. slippery yes.
but its on the tecnique. if you go in scared and not knowing what to do anyone would eat shit.
like i've heard for years.
practice makes perfect.

there are a lot of people faster than me on the dh, but the thing thats hard to be good at is pinning it up a climb then ripping it while your blown, out of breath, or 2-3 hrs in to a ride or race and have nothing left.

this is where the scalpel comes in, over the long haul it will save your body. maybe not much more than a few seconds early on over the other fast guys. but after a few hours of beating on your lower back and ass you probably will have fresher body parts than the ht.

so think about that next time you're blown nearing a last lap and bouncing all over that ht flite slr and your lower back is screaming you dumb ass.

oh and more about gas, i have heard people all winter/spring complain about car gas, petrol, and questar gas.

to this i say, dont complain, dont be a victim. go do something. YOU dont need a car and you dont need to pay a lot for heating gas.

make a choice, fix your life style and stop paying for it like you HAVE TO.

people that live and drive more than 5 miles to work really kill me, i dont know how else to say this so dont think im bagging on them, it may be you but if you cant handle the pay then change the day.
it SHOULD BE, that you live at the most 5 miles from your job, ride a bike or train/bus to work.
if not, then make it that way. that means, change your life to make it work. its your life, make it how you want it.

i live in the down town cuz its close to everything i need, i can walk 5 blocks and get to everything. i dont need a car, i use it rarely in town. its reserved for long trips, and this works out great. if i dont walk i ride, i have never used the train, i dont need it. if you like it and need it then use it.

heating gas, all winter my apt was 12 bucks a month, mostly for water heating. i didnt turn the heat up once, and it was 72degrees all winter in here.

all the people below turned their heat on and heat rises. the windows act like a green house and when it gets hot i open the door and windows and it cools off nice.

so my point is dont live where you dont need to, move to where you work, dont waste an hour a day or more (linde) driving to work from provo to slc everyday wasting gas and time (mostly time) away from your family.

dont live a big ass house with tons of windows or poor insulation turning it down to 45 degrees to save money.
dont bitch about energy prices, go do something about it. eliminate your need and dont use things.
i think its a good thing the prices are high. it makes people change. otherwise they would just keep using a bad thing.

wake up everyone


on retirement/ aka race sabatical. wasted talent? hardly, first this is not talent, its busting my ass to get a few minimal wins, a few top 5's.
2nd, i've been doing the same thing since i was 16, 19 years. it seems kind of boring. i dont think its a waste, its more like i have worked it from every angle and got more than i deserve. i have no drive to put in 20 hr weeks and suffer for 2 hrs every weekend trying to scrap for a top 5. its nice to chill, not to think about the upcoming event and stress (for me) yes about if the legs are going to fire on 8 cylinders, or have nothing.

racing is a mind set and i dont have it right now, maybe a few months but now im traveling and getting some other things done i have ignored for many years.

long post, yes. time for the real big city.

7 comments:

StupidBike said...

you please me.

StupidBike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
StupidBike said...

lemee try that again

this http://tiny.cc/ftTGi

is already blown and getting ready to be sent to service center. Light=high maintenance, keep eatin twinkies:)

Forrest said...

Its ok to be more than just a bike racer in life. Its not the only thing that identifies you. And thats not saying you dont like bike racing anymore either just cause you decide to sit out racing for a bit.

IamMatt said...

i like that post. people bitch to much about stuff they can change. better yet people like to bitch about stuff they can fix yet put the blame on some one else.

Piotrek said...

Good post! There's too much bitchin' going on in this country. We got it so sweet in comparison, and all by choice.

ag said...

nice. i was just giving you shit about racing. i know exactly what you mean about the mindset as i lost it once after 5 years of racing and took 4 years off. didn't really even ride much in that time. do what you have to do to re-stoke the fire. oh, and you do have talent. medal at the jr. worlds=talent