Now is a good time to get your game together. The winter season in AZ is just getting underway. I personally have found a valuable tool in getting my game on for any event is to mentally rehearse the outcome the way it should go. Of course with all the hard work that goes into getting ready for an event I envision a positive outcome. Seems like common sense but how many people rehearse a negative race? You know, you tell yourself “am I good enough”, or “I am going to get my butt kicked” . . . or half a dozen other bad things your brain is whispering. Do you realize you are mentally rehearsing the situation? Good athletes practice mentally in real time. You know it’s a gift that you had as a child and were told “Stop that day dreaming”.  Problem is day dreaming is a valuable gift that should be nurtured into adulthood. You should practice seeing yourself doing things like succeeding & living the life you deserve. This is not hocus pocus, it has scientific principals.  Olympic coach Jerry Lynch has worked with countless athletes over the years & coaches them in positive thinking = positive outcome. Read his book THINKING BODY DANCING MIND. The book gives you some tools that really help. This guy works with professional athletes in all sports ~ Football, Baseball, Marathons, bicycle racing . . . good stuff.  

I remember years ago I was working with a friend trying to complete this really tough climb. For most of my younger years I was really into rock climbing. Back then at the time I was working this really boring job stuck in a truck for hours a day and would find myself day dreaming about solving this particular climb. In my minds eye I would go through the steps to solve the climb.  One day I just flashed the route! It was because I had been practicing while day dreaming.  We had been working very hard to solve this route and I had every hand hold memorized and I would mentally solve the climb. At the time was unaware of the fact that my mental rehearsal was having such and impact. In fact I don’t think it really crossed my mind. This happens with all really good athletes. They are consumed with their sport. They are constantly rehearsing in their minds eye.  Scientist say your central cerebral cortex benefits from visualization. Perhaps one of the most convincing pieces of research to verify the power or imagery in sport was an experiment performed with two groups of basketball players who were trying to improve their free-throws percentage. One group shot one hundred free throws every day for three weeks: the other group simply visualized doing the same. The study found that the visualizing group showed significant improvement over those who actually shot the ball. This works as your visualizing making the basket.

 You have a race to do and you have been putting in the time and feel ready? Go out and & pre run the course. Stop and walk the tough parts and see your self riding as a pro. Visualization can then be rehearsed off the course while sitting in traffic or on the bus. Do this and see what a difference it makes on race day.

I also recommend THINKING BODY, DANCING MIND Author Jerry Lynch.

Good luck!  

The NYCF is a program that promotes racing at a young age. It is in place to give kids the needed support to excel. As the winter season starts lets make sure racing does not ruin our kid’s enjoyment of the bicycle. Let me share our story. We are a long time racing family & this story offers some perspective.

 When we, the Maier family first joined the NYCF with our kids it was 2000?. Our kids were around ages 9 or 10. We were a very enthusiastic family. Our kids did good & excelled in racing. We were very impressed that our kids won races. With all the hoopla that winning races generates our kids told us they wanted new bikes, a coach & wanted to become Olympic champions! High hopes but we encouraged them. So we did what we could to get those kids what they needed. This was pretty new to us and all was good.

In this time, the younger years; we had become acquainted with older nova people who had been a part of the NOVA program for years longer than us and had teenage kids. From what we saw these older nova people didn’t participate in the program as much & seemed to give off a negative vibe ~ kept to themselves. At the time we didn’t pay much attention. Didn’t really understand what these older nova folks were all about.

Years & time went by & our kids grew. Over the years racing brought us many happy memories. The best thing about it all was just the time spent together as a family. In all our travels we had lots of good adventures. Our kids become real experts. Little pros... Racing was becoming more of a job for the kids. Much because of all the winning the training became a job. The more success a kid has as a junior the more pressure they feel as they get older. This pressure can have a very negative impact on what should be a lifetime habit of enjoyment and health & ohh no we had become old nova people!.... Now I understand…!  

Now that I have old nova people perspective, what would I have done different? . . . Here are a few ideas that I probably heard from those old nova people.

1) Don’t overdue it. No matter if the world is telling you that your kid is going to be the next world champion. Cycling is a sport of training & being young is about having fun. Training and fun don’t go together until you’re a little older, like 42.

2) Keep the season short & focus on a few races. Do other stuff. It is easy to get caught in a year round racing season living in Arizona.  Winter turns to spring then summer and next thing you know its fall again ~ and still racing?

3) For many kids the best time to become a “racer” is the teenage years. This gives the kids something that can be their own. 

4) For the Mom’s & Dad’s who can’t wait to get the little ones out doing cross country bicycle rides ~ engineer the rides to be fun, make them one way downhill with a pizza party at the end (and ice-cream!).  

Did you know a French Man is dominating the sport of mountain biking?

Julian Absalon is the winningest rider in world cup history. He is the VeloNews cyclist of the year. It has been 18 years sense a mountain biker has had that honor. I think it funny that a French man is dominating the sport of mountain biking while an American, worse yet a Texan dominated the sport of road racing for so many years in France.

If you want to get up to speed on the whole Olympic mountain bike thing get the movie OFF ROAD TO ATHENS http://www.offroadtoathens.com/ . It is a very entertaining documentary that details the whole European vs American sport of mountain biking. This movie really gives you insight on how series the sport of mountain biking is in Europe, trust me you will have a whole new understanding for the sport after watching this movie.      

We are learning to live in snow again. I grew up in the mountains above Boulder CO. near a little town called Nederland. Our house was at 8000' so I know snow. Been a long time though, … and I am enjoying the winter again.  Those who don't know, we moved to Flagstaff, AZ last June. 

The school leagues are growing like gang busters and this year will be a break through year for the NYCF.  The MBAA has really gone to bat the school leagues which is in the best interest for the sport & we are so thankful!

I will try and update BLOG more often, it is important place for people to get up to date on things.

Thank everybody for all the hard work going into the success of the NYCF.

We will be holding some coaches meetings soon. Get people up to speed on how to promote a team.

-michael ~ NYCF

2008 Season is shaping up very nice this year. 

We have picked up REI as a sponsor.

MBAA is working to pay for kids racing this year!

We have schools all over the state this year!

There are some big changes in rules this year. The series runs all year long with the finals being the NOVA National in April.

Rules are posted as a pdf. The rules are 4 short pages please read them.

Now off to our best year ever!!

-Michael Maier ~ NYCF