Building and maintaining trust is an incredibly important life and leadership skill. Trust is the foundation that all relationships are built upon. Therefore, and cracks in that foundation can cause significant structural issues in a relationship. While there are numerous topics which can be covered relating to trust, today I will focus on how fragile trust can be and how easily it can be broken.
Building and maintaining trust has been an important topic of discussion in my personal and professional life. This weekend I participated in the first race weekend of a four weekend race series. During this weekend's racing, I experienced a perfect example of how quickly trust can be broken and the impact of that break of trust.
Trust Between Man and Machine
When racing a bike (or any other transport device) there is a significant quantity of trust that you must have in "the machine" (aka the bike). In these races, there is very little margin for error, and numerous potential points of failure. The pace and proximity of these events adds to the potential risk of failure. Just watching a stage of any major cycling race, Tour de France being a perfect example, will provide numerous examples of what can happen when things go wrong. The races I participated in this weekend were a criterium style race, where the race field races around a circuit course averaging around 25 MPH and reaching speeds near 40 MPH. Throughout the course there are turns and bends for the field to navigate safely.
There is a ton of trust that rider has to place in the bike to perform consistently without failure.
The potential points of failure include failures of the human (bad shifting, pedal strikes, over or under steering, physical fatigue, cramping, etc.) and the machine (broken frames, broken chains, flat tires, broken shifters, brake failures, etc.). Unlike a car, there is little protection for the racer beyond a helmet. Unfortunately, lycra doesn't provide much protection for skin or bones when the rides hits the pavement (a reality all cyclists have discovered at some point). There is a ton of trust that rider has to place in the bike to perform consistently without failure.
The Breaking of Trust
During my first of two races for the day, things went well. Throughout the race my trust in the bike was growing (I find that I have to rebuild that trust every season in these races) and I was getting more aggressive in my bike handling and taking turns. We came out of the gate fast and the race never really slowed down, this image above captures my stats for that race (where we averaged 25 MPH for the entirety of the race). I was feeling good about my second race and ready to have a great showing.
After three sketchy corners I slowed back my pace and looked down to see that my front tire was almost completely flat.
My second race kicked off (after an hour gap to recover and take on fluids and food) quick out of the gate. We had a large field of riders, so there were plenty of opportunities to draft and stay out of the wind. However, just a couple laps into the race something wasn't feeling right. Coming around the corners at speed, my wheels started slipping on the pavement and I found myself fighting to keep the bike upright. After three sketchy corners I slowed back my pace and looked down to see that my front tire was almost completely flat. I was able to take a "free lap" to get the tire re-inflated. This allows me to jump back into the race with the pack without being down a lap.
After getting my tire pressure corrected, I hopped back into the field and worked to get myself back into the flow of the race. This was the first time I've ever take a free lap in a race, so I was learning on the fly on how to get back into the right mental state and understand what was going on within the pack. However, what turned out to be my most difficult challenge was trusting my bike. As we came through corners I felt I needed to back off my pace to stay safe which resulted in me putting in a big effort coming out of each turn.
Failure from Broken Trust
After a few laps of these types of efforts to keep in touch with the pack, my body quickly began breaking down (though the first race effort certainly was much of that fatigue as well). These elements culminated in my downfall in that second race. After a few laps of trying to get comfortable and back into the flow, it was clear that I wasn't going to get back into that groove and I was burning myself out too quickly. I pulled back off the pace, but committed to finishing the race. Once you are off that pace, you quickly lose speed and end up taking on a much slower pace.
The great part of this race series is that you get more opportunities to improve and have a better showing. I will be focusing on getting my tires better situated and rebuilding my trust in the bike over the next week. Thankfully, I have confidence in the solution to getting my tires right, which will better help me quickly rebuild that trust.
Remember that these small breaks in trust add up quickly, and can result in a failure of your relationships.
The trust that was broken, and the resulting failure, reflects the same challenges that we face with broken trust in our personal and professional relationships. Such a simple issue resulted in a complete break in trust (in this case, trust that the tire would hold air). By the way, at the end of the race the tire was still holding air fairly well (though some had leaked) and I would have been safe to ride at speed during the race. However, that break in trust resulted in me not believing that the tire would continue to perform properly. We do this same thing in our relationships. Remember that these small breaks in trust add up quickly, and can result in a failure of your relationships.