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Think fast and you may become faster

Think fast and you may become faster (Marcus Farley©.)

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It is oft quoted that developing a psychological edge can help raise your game.  If you think you’ll win, be quicker, finish first etc. then it can inspire you that little bit closer to actually doing so. 

There are 3 weapons in my ‘think myself faster’ arsenal. 

Firstly, there is my steed.  My Yeti Asr-sl is one of the fastest, lightest and most efficient xc mountain bikes on the planet.  Standing over it makes me think “I can’t let the bike down!” No one wants to be the butt of all those “all the gear and no idea” jokes.  I owe it to the bike to set about getting as fast and light as it is. 

Secondly, after noticing name tags on team riders’ bikes I thought it would be an incentive for me to think myself faster if I got my own name tags made.  My local bike shop, has the race team bikes adorned with name tags designed by Victory Circle Graphix/

These guys supply many of the pro riders’ bikes, including the Trek team bikes.   That’s right, they’re the company that put Lance’s name on his bikes. They also adorn Chris Eatough’s bikes, the multi Solo 24 Hour MTB World Champion. 

Hang on, let me pinch myself, the company that put Lance’s name onto his Tour de France bikes has just provided me with the stickers for my bike.  How cool is that!

For a small fee, $37 to be precise, including postage from the States, I have had 20 name tags made up adorned with ‘m-arc-us’ and the Colorado flag. 

The Colorado flag? Hell yes! My Yeti was born and conceived in Colorado and I wanted to glorify that.  The hyphenated name is also a nod to Yeti as it singles out ‘arc’ – one of the most lasting XC race designs of all time.

The third weapon in my arsenal are my Yeti ‘faster than you’ socks recently purchased from Andrew Yetifan. Now, before I even get on the bike I’m thinking fast as I put my kit on. 

Am I inspired to go faster now? Am I heading in the right direction to attain that psychological edge? Absolutely.  The Asr-sl was honed from years of racing by some of the most famous names in the industry: Juli Furtado, John Tomac, Myles Rockwell, Missy Giove, Marla Streb, Nathan Rennie, Jill Kintner and Jared Graves have all ridden for Yeti.  My bike attaches me to that history and heritage and that absolute psychological will to win, like no other cycling brand.  

My name tags attach me to the most famous name in modern cycling, Lance Armstrong.  My will to go from fat to svelte is nothing compared to his unwavering will to beat cancer and win the Tour de France 7 times in a row.  I would feel ashamed if I didn’t even lose a couple of stone in weight in comparison!

My Yeti ‘faster than you’ socks are the epitome of these combined wills to win.  They are more than go faster stripes. They are a tattoo, a branding on my soul, they are the will that inspires me onwards.

Over the coming months I hope that I will emerge from my secret training camp* having shed enough weight to go from fat to svelte, with improved skills that take me from ‘mostly average’ to ‘go anywhere singletrack demon.’  Watch this space…

* secret training camp = the local gym + skills building rides with the Crosstrax lot and Tom from www.bikedibley.com.

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