A Weekend Adventure (... and a PDAW)

So I would like to share my thoughts on Ryan's race from a point of view I think he might appreciate. First, yes it sucked. It is just plain embaracing to have to walk/be taken care of on race day and there is no consolation in ‘at least you finished.’ I have been there and I hated the feeling. That being said, Ryan you did something that I wish we all did a lot more often. You put your goals out there and went balls out to achieve them. It was exciting to hear how your training was going, and how pieces of the puzzle were being put together. You put in training that was plain sick. Nobody out there put in more time on their bike. You were running strong and battling though aches and pains. You made sacrifices on weekends to be ready for long rides. Most importantly you dedicated yourself to an impressive goal and came very close to achieving it. Like you always say, the training we do is all about getting to race day ready to perform. It may be hard to see it now, but you got to race day with most of the components in place to do something exceptional. The fuel intake part (something none of us take too seriously) was missing and it cost you big. It has happened to some of us and will happen to others, but it doesn’t take away from what you DID achieve. I want to take the liberty to give you a slightly biased PDAW this week. The award has come to signify some one who did something special. The work you have put in this year was exactly that and you deserve this one. When you read a book like Running with the Buffalos it inspires you to go out there and train your ass off. When I think about the training you did to prepare for this race it inspires me to do the same. Suck it up and take the award.