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Reflections


As most people reading this will know, when it comes to “luck”, I haven’t had much of it the past few years. However as this year draws to a close I have come to realise that “luck” doesn’t exist, it truly does come down to our decisions and the actions we take.

On reflection all of my past injuries that I have put down as bad luck have actually all been due to poor decision making. Torn ligaments in ankle – shouldn’t have pushed the descent so fast in the rain so close to my main race. Broken ribs – shouldn’t have gone on a safety course above my skill level the weekend before my main race. Heart issues – while most likely genetic, I’m sure super long hours working followed by high intensity training was a contributing factor to my burn out as well. While I’ve always thought I wanted that elusive good performance at Coast to Coast, I have never truly committed myself to achieving it.
On my way to a cheeky club race win


The biggest thing I have learnt over the past few years is sometimes my stubborn resilience to just get back up and keep going isn’t always the best solution. Sometimes the best plan is actually sitting down and creating a plan.

This year has certainly been of full of creating plans and making changes. The first big change has been having Rosie at Freedom Fitness and Coaching as my coach. It is definitely a big improvement over what I have done previously and hopefully the results will speak for themselves in 2017. Getting to represent Trek bikes this season has also been a big step up over my last bikes I rode, I can certainly now see why people had always been telling me to change. Lifeguarding has been a welcome change and challenge, it’s certainly nicer having warm water to do rescues in! And finally joining an urban search and rescue team has been amazing! I’ve always respected what these guys do, so now being able to train and operate alongside them (with my first deployment being the recent Kaikoura Earthquake) has made for a great year and I can’t wait to do more.
Just one of the new skills I have learnt through usar


I’ve got some big plans for 2017 and going forward into 2018 but you’ll have to wait and see what those are ;)

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