We Go for the Overall

“Johan,” said Lance. “I don’t know. I mean, maybe we should think about which stages we can win.” Johan looked deeply into Lance’s eyes and answered with “No.” “No. We go for the overall.” Johan stared back at Lance and could tell that the doubt wasn’t coming from his heart. It wasn’t real doubt. “We are going to win the whole thing.” Johan repeated slowly.

Lance nodded and then he grinned. He sat back from the table that all the tour route papers were spread on. He shook his head, but he wasn’t saying no. He was saying, “I can’t believe I believe this.”

Their approach to victory was unconventional. When all the other teams were racing up to 100 races from early April to late October US Postal set its sights on one race. The Tour de France. Sure some of the team showed up at some of the Classics and Grand Tours, but Lance for the most part showed up for THE Tour. He took criticism for this as well. Some said it was unfair…but then again no one else has the record he has either.

Sometimes you just have to know when it is time to go. There are times in our lives that we need to race the Classics and the Grand Tours and even some of the small regional events. But then there is a time to focus. A time to set your sights on the prize and just go for it. A time to train specifically and strategically. A time that for some is right now.

You know you’ve been waiting for it and you are sitting there right now just as Lance and Johan did. It’s as though Johan is saying to you, “You are going to win the whole thing.” And you are there shaking your head…but you’re not saying no.

Johan and Lance had this conversation before they ever won a race together. They had this conversation before they had even really started training. They had no proof in what they believed, other than the fact that they could see what wasn’t even there yet. They had hope. And then they had a plan. A plan that was unconventional. A plan that consisted of a lot of solitary riding for Lance when everyone rode and trained as a team. When all of the other teams were training where they could be seen and photographed so their sponsors received a lot of exposure Lance trained in the mountains when no one else was there. Riding 7, 8, 9 hours a day all alone up and down the same steep switchbacks that he would be riding during the tour. People didn’t understand. But Johan and Lance had hope and they could see the finish…on the podium in the yellow jersey.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said it well when he said this… “To be great is to be misunderstood.”

People don’t have to understand what you are doing or why. You just have to believe in what you are doing and you have to envision where you are going to end up. Do this…in alignment with God’s plan and purpose for your life and you will succeed.

I Corinthians 2:14 – “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Have a blessed day,

RodZ

© 2008 – Rodney Zimmerman – All rights reserved