The Inspiration Thread
 

It's winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and riding indoors (or in an unheated garage in my case) isn't exactly fun or easy. That's because cycling is hard. Track cycling is harder. There is a reason it's called the Killermeter. When it's time to grit your teeth, dig deep, and summon every last ounce of strength to get through the session, stay off the front, or just keep from getting dropped, what/who inspires you to keep going? These are some of my staples.

Jonah Lomu. Sad to see him pass away. 6'5", 265lbs, 10.8s 100m, 4s 40yd. Unstoppable. In a sport of hard men, he was the hardest. He defined bravery not because he was brave, but because you had to be brave to face him.
https://youtu.be/-FkJ1Wp9iko

Because we've all imagined ourselves doing this.
https://youtu.be/aMsotvad5nA

Who else can you think of that's won every National Championship medal (Road and Track) on offer in THE SAME SEASON?
Jocelyn Lovell | Steve Tilford
Jocelyn Lovell, Canada's First Cycling Icon - Canadian Cycling Magazine

Hell Week, because if they can do it, I can at least try.
Hell Week | Navy SEALs

Myself. Because in the end we do this for ourselves. If we give up, then in that moment, we've failed 100% of the reason we do this. To make ourselves better.

This always got me motivated:

Just noticed his stem was two bolt only ! :)

The 80+ year old guys who still come to the track, barely able to walk up the ramp, get their leg over the bike, and then hammer at 30kmh+ for an hour straight. Makes me feel that at 31, I have so, so much ahead of me, and the little hurdles now are pretty meaningless in the grand scheme. At the same time the only reason those dudes can still cruise like that is because they put in 60 years on the bike, so if I want to when Im that old I better keep on it!

Martyn Irvine's performance at the 2013 World's is particularly inspiring to me, given that he must travel far from home to train on a track; somewhat similar to my situation - a four hour drive to Kissena.

https://youtu.be/CI-i-WCCYSU?t=1h5m53s

+1 to Carleton. That's short is a winner. A sprinter classic at my track.

I get inspired by watching videos of Kristina Vogel and Anna Meares showing off they're toned thighs and booty :):p
On a more serious note I find Anna Meares very inspiring, the longevity, coming back from her crash and shes open about her emotions.

Awesome video!!!

Figured this might be a good place to drop this off. I personally hate riding turbo/rollers and miss the velodrome terribly.

So I made this from a video I found, Imgur, an infinitely repeating gif of a velodrome lap. It's not quite the same but it helps me quite a bit if I blow it up to fullscreen and just spin.

Is that Calshot?

Yeah!
Was offered the chance to ride there but never took it up. Regretting it.
Made the gif from this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri26peCx88E

I rode calshot a few years back. Drove and ferried for almost 14 hours to get there. Two hours sleep and straight up on the steepest track I'd ever been on. It was scariest track I've ever been on. 160 metres and its almost impossible to hold black line n flying laps. Was in awe at the kids racing on it.

Wow, those turns.. O_O

Careful of riding off your rollers in 'em ;-)

Nice clip though, thanks. I'm going to stick it in my folder of 'things to watch on the trainer'. :thumb:

https://vimeo.com/34483498

A little footage racing at FCV in London, Ontario. Should prove to be less monotonous than a looped lap.
Scratch race - https://vimeo.com/34483498
Match Sprint - https://vimeo.com/18941528

Scottish Sprinters. A tough combination and they show up in every generation. One of the few sports that the nation of stocky, barrel chested, thick legged gingers with a temper have excelled in.

Hahahaha!

So I SHOULDN'T be an enduro racer? Balls. I guess I need to get thicker, if you're saying there's a chance!

Well there was this ONE Scottish enduro who got pretty well known......