“Hey, do you mind if this kid that I’ve been doing some cross workouts with goes on the ride with us today?”
That’s how it started almost exactly six years ago this month when my friend Darren asked if a 13 year old local kid named Logan could join us on our ride. After assuring me that this particular 13 year old could handle himself on a road ride and that Logan would be his responsibility on the ride I agreed. I met the two of them on a corner near my house and we set off on one of the standard loops in the area. This particular loop involved ascending a climb called Sherman Hill twice. Sherman is about one mile in length, averages 7.5% and has pitches of 17%. The first time up Sherman was “conversational”. I assumed the second time would be as well. I was wrong. About halfway up the skinny 13 year old who hadn’t uttered a word since our introductions attacked. It was on. From that exact moment I knew that this was a kid to keep an eye on. I had worked with another local junior a few years back who was a decent rider but he lacked what I like to call a “fire in his belly”. I believe that you either have that fire or you don’t. You can’t really teach that kind of thing. Logan seemed to have that in spades.
Thus began a relationship that has evolved from riding partners on a fall day into athlete-coach/student-mentor and most importantly into friends.
Over the past six years the successes for Logan have been numerous. He won his eighth US National Championship in CX this past season and finished third overall in the World Cup. He finally won his first and second US National Championship on the road in July in the road race and the criterium. And tomorrow (or today depending on where you are) he will represent the United States for the third time at a World Championship. His first trip was for CX in 2012 and was a learning experience. The big target was the 2013 CX World Championships to be held on home soil in Kentucky. The entire season was focussed on that one goal. Chasing World Cup points to ensure a front row start meant numerous trips to Europe. It also meant getting really serious about every little detail. Training, recovery, nutrition…every detail was dialed in. He did every workout I prescribed for him while I secretly hoped that I was doing everything that I could to ensure that he hit peak form at just the right time. Finally the big day came. A bad start and a crash on the first lap meant Logan had to chase back through the field from way back. He could have hung his head and soft pedaled in, maybe cracked the top ten and called it a day. But, that fire I saw on that very first ride burnt hot and he battled back to be in position for a medal, just falling short in the closing meters on the last lap. He ended up crossing the line in fourth. No win, no medal. Just disappointment.
Disappointment. To say that you are disappointed to be the fourth best in anything in the WORLD is saying something. It means that you were aiming to be the best. He was disappointed because he felt like he let a lot of people down, his fans, his family, me. (He didn’t). I was disappointed. Not in him, but for him because I knew how hard he had worked and how much pressure he had been under. I was going to wait until we both got back to Seattle to debrief but we ended up doing it in the hotel just a few hours after the race. It just seemed like the time was right. So we broke down the race, discussed everything that happened. Then we moved on.
And here we are, 7 1/2 months on and he is in Italy representing the United States in another World Championship. This time on the road. And once again, I (and a lot of other people) think that he has a legitimate chance at winning a title. And once again I am hoping that I did everything that I could to help him prepare and be his best on a day circled on a calendar. I am hoping that I did my job, because I know he has done his.
Good luck dude. Let that fire burn.
Logan wins Most Combative Jersey in his last prep race in Europe prior to Worlds
