TeamKit

I have never been one for much need for association to groups. I've never really been the lone wolf type, but just haven't found it necessary to belong to an established group. I never played competitive team sports competitively as a kid. My parent's weren't super into it, and it was a bit to structured for me. By structured I mean I couldn't change my mind on what I wanted to do every 5 seconds. I played a lot of sports (i.e. baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and trampoline) with my dad, older brother, and friends, but I always liked having the ability to jump from one sport to the next because I didn't have the best attention span.

Since I never had been part of a team I was really surprised to have the experience I had dawning my team kit for the first time. During this last winter I became part of a Northern (I mean the real Northern) California and Southern Oregon Cycling team Etna Brewing Co./ DeSalvo Custom Cycles. Being still fairly new to the sport of bike racing (crossed over from Triathlon) I was excited to be part of a team for many reasons, but mostly because it would offer me some discounts and people to train with.



When I picked up my teamkit this spring I was mostly excited to have a couple new jersey's and bike shorts because it was just that time of the year. However, when I pulled on my Etna Brew bibs and jersey for the first time I was overwhelmed with the sense of pride! It gave me an immense feeling of accomplishment and instilled a huge amount of drive in me. From that moment in time on all I have wanted to do is train more, train smarter, train harder, and race race race race my bike. The issue of jumping from one sport to the next on a whim as vanished. Everything in my life is now structured around insuring I get to ride my bike six days a week, and race as much as possible.

Being a part of a team or recognizing myself as part of something has been a very positive experience for me. I now have more understanding why so many people pursue association with a social group in the vast array they exist. It even compounds the significance of Chuck Palahniuk's book Fight Club.