A pretty good week. My godfather, who I have not seen for about 16 years, came out for a visit, and we had a lot of fun catching up. His youngest son came, too. We spent the weekend doing the usual crazy stuff: aquarium, La Casa Gelato, night market (their first exposure to the weirdness that is bubble tea, among other things), and Robson Street. Fun for all.

Today was the penultimate Tuesday Nighter, and the last points-bearing one. So these results are final. My second place in Cat 4, is, with some provisos, something to be proud of. And I am. I finished the season with a bang, winning the last race (and coming a few brain cells and muscle fibers short of the prime, too). Let's call it Suck 1 for the race, and overall, a Suck 2 season. I did not met my (very aggressive!) stated goals for the season, but I'm happy.

Tonight's win was interesting, for reasons that go beyond boring "I sprinted and beat some other guy" cycling chatter. The actual circumstances were pretty simple: the big fast guy who won the prime and sat in all race unwound his sprint at the right time and was well clear of everyone, while I came from a marginal position (maybe seventh out of the last corner) drafted as well as I could, and then went full sprint.

I won the sprint by very little, catching the big fast guy by surprise with my come-from-nowhere victory. But the win was cemented early in my sprint, when my mental state flipped from "I hope I can catch him" to "I will catch him."

It's not that victory was a certainty: it was that absolute confidence that I could win made it possible for me to win. Confidence was the difference between me and second place today, and the lesson is learned.

Sorry for the bike content, Keith.

After Gord's suggestions, I have grabbed a couple of books by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow and Finding Flow. We'll see what I learn, but it should be a nice point to return to some of my ideas from last month.