Monday, August 29, 2011

Life and Racing Updates


It’s been a while since my last entry and a lot has happened in August so I have tried to summarize for you below.  

As many of you know last October I was given the privilege to take part in a startup company located in Plainfield. I specifically say “take part in” and not “given a position” because I was the second person to come on board and the last thing we had time and money for was to define and hold to job descriptions. One minute I would be talking to a VP of a large company and the next I’m emptying a container of product using a forklift. Needless to say the variety and challenge were great but we knew it would be a long hard road ahead.  

What lead me to leave my well-paying, highly stressful, and slowly marriage killing previous job was to help build something from the ground up and for an owner who believed in taking 80% of this companies’ profits and donating them to ministry.    

To make a long story short 10 months later God has closed the doors of this company, but God is faithful and he never closes a door without opening another first.  When the owner of Kingdom LED announced to me that he would be closing the company he also told me that he had created a new position at his manufacturing company down the road with me in mind.

So once again a guy who painstakingly analyzes every decision in his life will once again in a split second jump head first into a position and a company that I know little about but am confident this is the right move.    

So… what am I doing now? Well my new company is called Sennco Solutions, started about 10 years ago in a basement and has grown to a 10+ million dollar a year retail security manufacture. By retail security I mean the devices that keep display electronics and high theft items in stores from growing legs and walking out the door.

I specifically was brought on board to manage Sennco’s international relationships. I will be taking over the 3 existing distributor relationships in the UK, Canada, and Mexico and in the next 6-12 months finding and establishing distributors in South America, Asia, and Australia.  What exactly this position is going to look like day to day no one knows but I am ok with that. What I do know is that I am flattered to have been given this responsibility and am confident it will be a fulfilling and beneficial career step for both Corie and me.

So that’s the scoop on the work front, now for the two wheeled stuff!

To say the last month on the bike has been hard would be an understatement! Since a crash last month in a race where I was anticipating a great result that would have both awarded my final upgrade points needed for my CAT2 license and clinch the Illinois Cycling Cup Championship I have been a disaster.

Now don’t get me wrong, when you race your bike you will crash it’s just part of the sport. What was most damaging about the crash was not the missing skin or damaged bike parts but the implosion of my well thought out plan for the rest of the season.

Since I don’t get to race 30+ races a season the races I do attend need to count and now that time is running out on the season I am finding myself under the gun to perform and the frustration of not is really getting to me as a competitor.   

If there is a guaranteed way to not win a bike race it’s to overthink it and try too hard. Many would assume I’m racing scared for fear of crashing, this is not the case but what I am doing is just as bad! I am racing under personally inflicted mental pressure that is hurting my confidence and ability to make smart decisions in a race.  

Fortunately this mental pit I’m in did not cost me or my team the ICA Cup Championship.  However, I still need one last result to make my upgrade possible this season, and this Friday and Saturday is where I plan on making it happen.

I know this mental barrier is just another obstacle in my pursuit of being a decent bike racer and it’s a challenge I welcome because I know the end result will reveal a stronger wiser competitor.
Here we go…

Coming soon… ICA CUP review and this weekend’s Gateway Cup Race Reports...        

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