RRR’s new Chairperson, Steve “Coach” Ilg, flying the RRR colors while cranking to a 3rd consecutive Title at this years Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon in Grants, New Mexico. Coach, who also won the Flagstaff Winter Triathlon, is committed to bringing a dynamic energy of communication and CHI to RRR this season!Hola Teammates!
My name is
Steve “Coach” Ilg, your new RRR Chairperson. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of you out on the ’cobbles’ and ponderosa singletrack over the last couple of seasons. I deeply look forward to meeting the rest of you!
I’ll say it up front; I am not a cycling-specific athlete. I’m a 45-year young warrior just doing my best to stay fit. Since the eighties, I’ve used competitive cycling as a training vehicle toward multisport events and more importantly as a wonderful form of spiritual growth in tune with my understanding and practice of yoga. My highest results in cycling comes from a coach, not athlete. I am devoted however, to being a "coach that does," and once managed to attain a Cat 2 license (for about thirty seconds) and still maintain a feeble grip on an Expert MTB license (thanks in large part to riding MTB's again under the svelte fitness of RRR teammate Bob Verderame...that cat dances on a MTB like few i've ever seen). My deepest memories have been as a Tour of the Gila Champion, New Mexico Road Race Series State Champion, a New Mexico State MTB Medalist, and course records in the Furnace Creek 508 Ultra. However, I have had the deep honor to be the strength and conditioning coach of Team 7-Eleven back in the Boulder, Colorado golden years when names like Grewal, Hampsten, and Phinney were tearing up the Euro peletons when tearing up the Euro peletons was NOT something that we Americans did!
It’s from that experience that I am delighted to function as your new Chairperson for RRR. I was attracted to the low-key nature and tawny enthusiasm of this team while suffering like a dog during the Saturday Morning Club Rides a few years ago. I wanted to be a part of a low-pressure Team that honestly loved to do one thing; ride bikes. All kinds of bikes at all kinds of intensities.
That perhaps, defines the hallmark nature of a RRR Racer; it ain’t so much about winning, it’s about cultivating the good qualities within ourselves that seem to spring forward whenever we pedal our bikes through this amazingly beautiful land.
WHY SO LONG WITHOUT CONTACT? I wanted to wait to speak to you all after I had a few Board Meetings under my belt, since all this fancy-smancy Board Meeting stuff is utterly new to me.
Okay kids, I realize by now, many of you may think that the RRR Board is actually just a semi-fictitious bunch of curmudgeons that excels in Consciously Engaged Procrastination.
Let me set the record straight; each of you should be very, very proud of the current RRR Board. Sure, I know well enough all the gossiping and insipid morale that has been the state of things up until now.
However, I don’t give a you know what about all that.
Here is what matters; the furthest thing your Board is, is Bored. We’ve had a LOT to do since I accepted this “utterly thankless, time consuming, and painful” position a few short while ago. Like the other Members of your board, I have already lost several hundred dollars of my time during seemingly endlessly linked Friday Nights huddled about in various Flagstaff nests with the other Board Members doing our best to get this amazing and STILL THE ONLY LOCAL HOMEGROWN FLAGSTAFF CYCLING TEAM up toward where we started and where we belong:
The Podium.
MISSION CONTROL; WE HAVE LIFT OFF! Let me proudly state that our Team is now CRANKING!
We’ve got a super strong Tier System to focus our racers, we’ve got Team Meet-and-Greet events slated, our totally stylin’ new kits will be here soon, and we’ve got all our racing and event promotion dialed in. In a few short months, this new RRR Board has done a 180 in engaged stance; we are completely devoted to securing strength and endurance for this amazingly refreshing cycling team that NEVER TURNS ANY RACER AWAY!!! RRR all-ways has been,
And all-ways shall remain,
“all inclusive.” We have a TON of forward, upward energy to climb the mountains before us. Good thing everyone on the Board are altitude trained, cuz we are focused on nothing else than Going Higher with this Team.
HOMEWORK, ALREADY?!? OH GEEZ, COACH…I am all about the “Practice”
And
I am all about Communication.
So, your new “El Presidente” has a couple of homework assignments for each of you;
1) go to the RedRockRacing.org website (GREAT JOB, KRISTEN!) and STUDY, yes, I said STUDY all the newly updated items such as our killer new Tier System, Race Reimbursement Formula, our Junior Development Program, etc.! Remember; Practiced Communication and responsibility! It is up to YOU to know by heart how to get reimbursed for your races, what qualifies as a “race”, and other particulars. With a USCF Coach sitting as your Chairperson, do not think for one second that I will tolerate lack of responsibility among our racers. If I would tolerate such lazy mindedness, I would be doing great disservice to your spirit, both as an athlete and as a human being. Also; Update your Bio! C'mon, we want to MEET and get to know you! Don't be shy!
2) Visit and contribute to the RRR Team Blog! This Blog is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a constant and needed source of Team news and exciting energy. As the new racing season begins to yawn wide open, let your RRR Brothers and Sisters read about your event, your training, what you’ve been doing. We need some spiritual glue for our Team right now, and the only way to create such bondage among each other is to live your Training and Racing out loud! Don’t just huddle in anonymity! Take a flier off the front, baby! Then tell us about it; training or racing! Let’s see you Represent!
3) Embrace the new Energies of Flag’s Native Cycling Team we ROCK among the Red Rocks! Ride happy, ride strong, and speak true.
Let’s do this thang!
May your training be strong and sincere and may all your headwinds be brief,
Om so ti,
Coach ilg, ryt/uscf/cpt
