Last year Jon and I would sit discussing the future for hours on end, what better way to alleviate the far stretching hotel-room hours ahead. These discussions, of races, teams and ultimately our most far fledged dreams, became particularly frequent and increasingly interesting during our hotel room 'grand tour' last summer - the three plus weeks Jon and I spent together across a Newport training camp, the Worlds TT and Road race and finally the Senior British track national championships. As we readied to split our separate ways for the winter and foreseeable future, the relative unknown of the next few years of our lives became increasingly clear.
Dibben was all set to join the British U23 Academy at the time, making the step up from the ODP where I was about to enter my second, and most important year as a junior. Whilst our paths were clearly about to split, our dreams remained very much aligned. Hours fell away discussing races next season, teams in five years time, what we wanted to win far into the future. It is clear these dreams where all based on complete unknowns, destinies we could only harbor hopes of fulfilling sat on those hotel beds in Valkenburg, Holland. And yet like all dreamers, our imaginations where alight, the endless possibilities that lay ahead filling the void between races over and over and over again.
Its these dreams that make punishing yourself through training possible and yet it became a tradition of our talks to end each conversation with 'well, at the end of the day we just have to pedal really fast', for whilst it was ok to let a few hours slip with our heads up in the clouds, nothing was going to happen without our feet firmly attached to the ground.
Back to the present and Jon is off to Minsk this week for the senior World track championships, the youngest member of the British squad. I am super excited to see such a close mate off racing there and I wish him all the best of luck and hope to someday follow the path he is forging ahead! For me its a week long training camp in Glasgow, some big preparation for my own big goals of the year!
Dibben was all set to join the British U23 Academy at the time, making the step up from the ODP where I was about to enter my second, and most important year as a junior. Whilst our paths were clearly about to split, our dreams remained very much aligned. Hours fell away discussing races next season, teams in five years time, what we wanted to win far into the future. It is clear these dreams where all based on complete unknowns, destinies we could only harbor hopes of fulfilling sat on those hotel beds in Valkenburg, Holland. And yet like all dreamers, our imaginations where alight, the endless possibilities that lay ahead filling the void between races over and over and over again.
Its these dreams that make punishing yourself through training possible and yet it became a tradition of our talks to end each conversation with 'well, at the end of the day we just have to pedal really fast', for whilst it was ok to let a few hours slip with our heads up in the clouds, nothing was going to happen without our feet firmly attached to the ground.
Back to the present and Jon is off to Minsk this week for the senior World track championships, the youngest member of the British squad. I am super excited to see such a close mate off racing there and I wish him all the best of luck and hope to someday follow the path he is forging ahead! For me its a week long training camp in Glasgow, some big preparation for my own big goals of the year!