After a party tonight, my twin little sister’s and I piled on the moped and as I drove them back to their apartment we sang pop songs at the top of our lungs. I then got a little crazy and decided to drive them home through campus. I’ve never heard someone explicitly say that’s not allowed, but that’s probably just because no ones dumb enough to do it.

We laughed our way to their front door as we mused over the idea of an RA chasing after us like an unsuccessful mall cop.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not promoting bad behavior, but I am promoting the value of having fun.

It can be easy to get caught in the “grind” of life and forgot to have fun. It can be easy to get caught in the “grind” of training and forget to have fun.

This happens to me every once in a while, and when it does I know it’s time for a hard reset. For me this looks like deleting Strava, and other social media, and not training. I just ride my bike. I explore. I go on adventures. I remember. Remember what it was like when I started riding my bike. I reignite the fun feelings of freedom that the bike brings. I ride however I feel. I go fast, I go slow. I do whatever I want, and I don’t think of it as training. Usually after a week of this, the fun returns and I’m good to go again!

It may seem like this would throw off training and detract from being successful on the bike, but I would disagree. In my opinion if you’re not having fun on the bike, you’re going to have a really hard time performing well.

I make an effort in every race to have fun. I throw whips off the jumps, I enjoy each berm and rock garden. The more fun I have, the faster I go, and I also ride well. I ride smooth.

Nino Schuster and Christopher Blevins are good examples of this. Even when they’re competing with the best in the biggest races of the year, you can tell they’re having fun. They have style. Is it necessary? No. Is it fun? Yes.

Fun = Fast. Have fun.