Free Verse Friday: I Am Not Afraid

08.31.2012 | 11:27 am

my-photo-17-21.jpgIf you do something
Enough
There comes a time
Where once there was
Terror
Or at least apprehension
There is now only
Expectation

This is what I tell myself is
Happening
With regards to the race
The race I will race
Tomorrow

The
Park City
Point
to
Point

I have done this race
Once before
And I remember well
How completely shattered
I was
At the end
(As well as well before the end)   

Fourteen
Thousand
Feet of climbing
in
Seventy
Eight
Miles
Should I be anxious?
Should I be worried?
Should I be afraid?
Yes, yes, yes

But
I
Am
Not.

I have not
Made lists
Gathered gear  
Or pored over
Elevation profiles

I have a plan
A simple plan
I will just ride
Until I cross
The finish line

Is this shoulder shrug
Of a plan
Because I have become
Used to racing
Week after week
After week?

Or is it because
I am a fool
And shall shortly
Learn
A valuable and
Painful
Lesson?

I will know the answer
To a degree, at least
By this time
Tomorrow

Thank you.

15 Comments

  1. Comment by GenghisKhan | 08.31.2012 | 11:37 am

    Good luck tomorrow. I suspect you are a fool… with a plan; you are soooo devious!

  2. Comment by GenghisKhan | 08.31.2012 | 12:23 pm

    Forgot to add this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yaPp7fiPBI

    It’s on your playlist, right?

  3. Comment by ClydesdalePilot | 08.31.2012 | 12:46 pm

    Today
    At 1:00PM
    I am getting a bike fit.
    Thanks to you.

    I couldn’t decide
    Between Retul
    and the Specialized BG Fit
    Until YOU came along.

    Your rave review
    Your great results
    Your superpower of asking them for super cool bikes and gear and helmets and junk
    Have helped me make up my mind.

    Besides, if Specialized hears that
    YOU are the reason
    they sell more helmets
    they sell more fittings
    they sell more bikes
    they may be willing to give you more
    when it comes time
    to raise money
    to fight
    cancer.

    Thank you.

    PS: Good luck! You’ll do awesome!

  4. Comment by Ed | 08.31.2012 | 1:10 pm

    Good luck, Fatty, The Hammer and everyone else! This one’s on my bucket list.

  5. Comment by Skye | 08.31.2012 | 2:28 pm

    If I try
    really hard
    I can find a hill
    with 4,000 feet
    of elevation
    to climb slowly, on Saturday.
    I will not try really hard though.
    Instead I will go to Farmer’s Market
    and eat Thai food and buy zucchini
    and think of other people suffering through
    14,000 feet of climbing
    while I ride home with fresh veggies
    on a flat sidewalk-y ride.
    Thank goodness I need zucchini.

    Thank you.

  6. Comment by Miles Archer | 08.31.2012 | 4:44 pm

    Oh Great Khan -

    I think this one is better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQy5vKAaTuA

    This is the best riding song ever – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqpHPrrMGvU

  7. Comment by sdcadbiker | 08.31.2012 | 6:08 pm

    Allez Fatty! I’m jealous, I’d love to do that race! And one day I will.

  8. Comment by Dave T | 08.31.2012 | 6:19 pm

    Up up I go
    so very slow
    but down down
    will be entirely different show

    especially listen to this old school gem
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWPWegM5QO0

  9. Comment by roan | 08.31.2012 | 6:28 pm

    Reading above comments
    And earlier posts.
    Y’all will do
    Awe&some, better than most.

    As for my bucket list
    Has a big hole.
    Not riding enough
    And climbing so sloe
    Gin.

    Thank you.

  10. Comment by mykill | 09.1.2012 | 3:29 pm

    a day late to the
    free verse party
    lucky for me this is not a race

    tonight i will also not race
    to dinner and a play and a movie

    and in the morning i will not race
    to breakfast, nothing close to epic.

    But in the spirit of all this
    early nineties funkitude in the comments
    This, however, is Epic:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERTT_sv8sV0
    And my favorite climbing earworm

    Thank you

  11. Comment by ac | 09.1.2012 | 6:45 pm

    I dunno about those ear-worms. How about Luke Million, “Arnold”?
    “Dowwnn, up!
    Dowwnn, up!
    Dowwnn, up!
    Come on! More energy.
    Come on! One more time.”

    Or perhaps even the “Cookie remix” of the same to include the lyrics,
    “Put the cookie down. Now!”

  12. Comment by dennzio | 09.2.2012 | 6:08 am

    but how this all looks
    in slow motion
    is the revelation…
    suffering merges with joy
    and I am who I am

  13. Comment by Jason | 09.2.2012 | 3:59 pm

    How about posting your garmin file for the p2p race, let’s see if you actually did the full course?

  14. Comment by the Putti | 09.2.2012 | 7:43 pm

    tomorrow I race
    what you say
    race I say
    you dont race you say
    well I am I say
    no way you say
    enough I say

    some running some biking
    some sweating no crying

    wishing I had a fc jersey
    alas, sad representation of the brand I am

    never the less….
    excited I am
    to finish mid-pack

    oh… and this http://youtu.be/8Fxk2JrZgvA

    thank you

  15. Comment by cece | 09.3.2012 | 7:36 am

    Go Fatty
    Go!

 

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