Embracing adversity

Editor’s Note:We are proud to introduce our newest pro rider diarist, Amber Neben. Neben is the 2008 world time trial champion, a former national champion and Olympian who has focused on international road racing in recent years. She is also, we are finding, a wonderful writer. Her columns will appear on VeloNews.com monthly.

What do you do when you crash hard enough to require a ride in the race ambulance? In my case, I dealt with a surgery to replace a section of skin and a cut nerve, dealt with the pain of a broken shoulder, and got back into training mode as fast as possible. After all, I still had a few months to prepare for the world championships.

D’oh! What do you do when you smack into a metal barrier halfway through a race? In my case, once again it involved another ride in a race ambulance and a trip to a foreign hospital, another long flight home, and another surgery — this one on my other hand to piece together and plate my second metacarpal.

One happened in the middle of the season. The other happened in the last race of the season. Both involved having to deal with a great deal of pain. The physical pain is obvious. Any cyclist knows that it hurts to crash. Road rash hurts. Cleaning the road rash really hurts. Broken bones hurt. But the mental stress can be equally hard and painful, just in a different way.

How do you describe what it feels like to prepare so hard for something, to dedicate so much to something and then lose the opportunity to even try to see it through? The immediate loss of opportunity, whether that was trying to do well in the Giro or helping Team USA in the world championship road race, hurt.

I remember lying on the ground after hitting that barrier and thinking about how hard I had worked to get myself back from the previous crash — the details, the focus, the fight. It always takes a lot to come back, but I had managed to do it. And now, there I was again, lying on the ground in excruciating pain, waiting for the ambulance while the race went up the road. The interesting thing was that the huge disappointment of not being able to finish hurt more than my high-energy fracture — and believe me, that hurt.

Disappointment, loss of opportunity, losing (whether temporarily or permanently) what you love, is always painful. Every time you face an injury or an obstacle that sets you back or requires you to start over, it takes energy. It takes focus. It takes determination and perseverance. And it is never easy.

So when you have to face adversity, what do you do? Do you embrace it? Do you look for opportunity in it? Or do you run from it and let it win? I have always been one to embrace it. I have certainly faced sufficient amounts already, and sometimes I think enough is enough. However, the other approach parallels the idea that as athletes we are always looking for improvement. Muscles never get stronger unless you put tension on them. Your LT never moves up unless you bathe yourself in it. Growth happens when a challenge is introduced.

Life is full of adversity. It is not a question of if you will encounter it, but when. And it will be found in different ways, at different levels and in different places. When it comes, though, make the effort to look through it and not at it. Look through it and find that opportunity for growth. Use it to strengthen some aspect of your riding, your career, your faith or your life. Then get back on the bike, and do what you love to do!

Amber Neben is a former world champion, Olympian, and seasoned international vet.  She is about to start her ninth year of full-time racing.  She hopes to give readers a different perspective on cycling, life as a cyclist, and the women’s pro peloton.  You can follow Amber at www.amberneben.com or www.twitter.com/amberneben.

FILED UNDER: No Spoil / Rider Diaries / Road