I can’t believe it’s May 1 already. Where did April go!? I had to lean really heavily on my mental performance tool-kit/quiver this April. There were many times this past month where I felt the imposter part getting loud, when I found myself in react mode (generally getting hijacked on an undesirable and unprofitable part), versus the respond frequency (a conscious choice we make) that I so share with the athletes and performers I mentor and coach.
For most of the athletes, performers and students I coach (and for myself included), I find that when we are reacting more than we’re responding, when we are consciously using human performance, mindset and mental skills and techniques, when we are actively nurturing our mental fitness, it often means we are flooded my overwhelm, overwork or over-training. When we are not getting ample sleep, rest or recovery, it’s easy get hijacked by that fight or flight part of the brain.
Just because we have experience and expertise in a specific area, doesn’t mean that we are immune to ups and downs, mental turmoil, or that we don’t falter and sometimes stumble–we all are fallible humans after all. When I feel my emotions getting loud, self-awareness and lots of work on myself, with my mentors, counselors and the work I foster with my athletes, helps me to turn the focus and get back on track. With that said, sometimes this past month felt like April fools–one test after another, like North Shore waves crashing again and again, with some seriously glassy and potent rippers with celebrating in-between. There were wins and there was a lot of opportunity to grow and learn.
April was a wave riding experience on so many levels, for myself personally, for my daughter in the water, and my family as a whole. When life gets chaotic and stretched to the messy edge, or when it’s time to lock in on a project, or it’s winter in Montana, the first thing to go for me is always IG—my IG sabbaticals are pretty frequent, I know—and sadly, often the blog.
April was banging for us as a family. We made two trips to St. George (48 hours of driving in 13 days); Kamiah competed at Western Zones; the new Leadville steed (bike) arrived—and the bike build video went LIVE on one of my favorite bike related YouTube channels; we onboarded a number of new athletes (mindset/mental fitness and endurance coaching); we passionately helped weekly athletes work through their roadblocks and reach for their goals.
We also ramped up my training volume logging lots of long solo rides outside (despite the wind, rain and cold temps), and many more miles on the trainer (boooo); we trained in a favorite Southern Utah pool; we managed numerous niggles and injuries; we secured a rad bike shop sponsorship—shout out The Bicycle Station; we mapped out a new podcast (coming in the very near future); we published a new episode of The Bounce Forward Podcast; and we almost moved to Utah. We celebrated my mom’s birthday with the family—man do we miss her this spring, and shoveled more snow.
We hope everyone is leaning into spring—and we hope your spring is really spring and not a MT spring, because Bozeman spring’s kind of suck a lot of days (it’s snowing as I write this—and to the the knucleheads new to the BZN, who may not ‘get it,’ this IS May in the GYE), but the birds are back and with it, the melodic song of the meadowlark and rickety cry of the red-wing black bird have brought a vibrance back to the valley.
The bird life on my long dirt rides on the drop bar MTB has been symbolic and sacred. The succulence and fecundity of spring in the GYE is on the wing.
Until next time, head up, eyes forward, feet moving.
WNbL, michael w. leach
