GOALS

Now that everyone has a 2010 schedule of races and El Grupo team events (e.g. 24 Hours in the OP, Tour of the Tucson Mountains, El Tour) it’s time to set some goals so that we can plan training. Why set goals? Many people find that setting goals helps keep them challenged, fresh, and focused. They help you see the progress you are making, and to plan your training so that your goals can be achieved. Whether you are aware of it or not, the coaches are constantly setting goals for practices and big events. Listed below are a few examples of goals:
Ride to the top of Mt. Lemmon.
Bike commute to school at least 75% of the time.
Do a 3-day self-contained bike tour.
Ride a lap of 24 Hours in the OP in under an hour and 45 minutes.
Ride a 20 km time trial in less than 30 minutes.
Enter and finish a race.
Be capable of changing a flat in under two minutes.
Win the U of A crit.
Learn to track-stand and bunny hop.
Ride A-Mountain in under seven minutes.
Completely overhaul and rebuild a bike.
Podium finish at the Tucson Bike Classic.
Help five novice cyclists feel safe and comfortable enough to ride to school.
Learn how to build a mountain bike trail, and help build a section of local trail.

These goals may or may not be relevant to what you want, so think about what YOU want; what’s important is to challenge yourself and have fun. It’s helpful, if you are going to set goals, to make them specific and measurable. A goal like “be a better rider”, for example, is tough to work with; if you want to be a better rider, state what that means to you in specific and measurable terms. It’s also important to make sure that while goals should be beyond where you are now as a rider, they are not ridiculously out of reach. For example, if you just started riding this year and are struggling to stay in the middle of the pack on El Grupo rides, setting a goal for next year of making the National Team is probably not achievable. Write you goals down so that you can see your progress and so that we can help you achieve your goals.

Dream goals are worth thinking about and writing down too, whether you share them with others or not. A dream goal is something that is way, way beyond what you are currently capable of, but with lots of hard work and focus over several years might be achieved. Here are a few examples: do a transcontinental self-contained bike tour, make the U-23 National Team, build a bike frame from scratch, set a national time-trial record, get the City to establish a bike boulevard through your neighborhood.

Just want to ride with El Grupo and let the coaches determine goals? No problem. Setting personal cycling-related goals is not a requirement for being involved with El Grupo. You should know, however, if you do not set your own goals then the coaches end up setting goals for you; this is your opportunity to determine your own goals. If you do have some specific goals in mind, please write them down so that we can help you develop a plan that will put you on track to achieve those goals. We will be discussing goals and training plans for 2010 during the next few Sunday practices.