Welcome coaches to Episode #4 of Wisdom on Wednesdays. I would like to keep on the subject we talked about last week on Building Team Unity through suffering. The suffering I am talking about is in the offseason. Every team suffers during the season. Some teams suffer more during the season than other teams of course, but I am strictly talking about off season suffering.
When we look at that word suffering, some wrestlers hate or fear it, some wrestlers embrace it, while a smaller few actually love it. The wrestlers who embrace and love suffering will take your team to the promised land. In my opinion however, the wrestlers who hate or fear suffering will never reach their potential in the sport of wrestling. I love to make my team suffer as well as suffer with them. It makes the goal so much more enjoyable to reach. It is also hurts so much more when you don’t reach the goal.
Again, I want to stress there is a difference on Building Team Unity and Building True Team Unity. Taking your team to a movie, playing laser tag, hiking trails, going white water rafting, or camping for the weekend are all things that build Team Unity. There is a time and a place for these activities. I have done a few of them myself. However, in my opinion, these activities do not help you win State Titles. I wanted to build True Team Unity. The only way I knew how to do this was through suffering together as a team.
One suffering workout I would like to discuss is “The Bike Race”. This workout we would do every Friday for 8 weeks in the spring and 8 weeks in the fall. This workout was absolutely brutal on my wrestlers and coaches.
Before I get into The Bike Race itself, I want to reiterate that this is not, and I repeat is not a fun workout. We do not ride in a group; we do not talk and laugh during this ride. This is a flat out, do or die ride where every wrestler digs so deep to where they actually question whether they can physically finish the race. I wanted to see how hard they would push themselves and suffer to try and win the race or beat their best time.
We would do the Bike Race every Friday in the Spring and Fall after lifting weights as a team. This 12-mile, 40-60 minute workout is absolutely brutal on your body but more so on your mind. As soon as I would finish the race, I would have two emotions and thoughts run through my head. The first thought was how much I was dreading the next seven days from now when I had to do this again. My second thought was that I cannot wait until next Friday to put myself and my team through this pain again.
Whether it was rain or shine, every Friday after lifting there were 24 wrestlers and 3 coaches that would grab their mountain bikes and head to the road.
We had two rules for the bike race.
- #1- You must finish the race.
- #2- You cannot miss a race.
If a wrestler missed a bike race, unless it was an emergency, he was kicked out from doing the ride for the rest of the Spring. He would have to wait until the Fall to join again. My wrestlers never missed.
Going back to rule #1- You must finish the 12-mile course. It was 6 miles around the block, turn around at my mailbox, and 6 miles back the opposite direction and finish back at my mailbox. I had wrestlers’ chains fall off their bikes and must carry their bike back to my house, grab and old bike in the garage, and head back out to the course.
I had a state champ riding beside me, he ran off the road, crashed in the ditch, and broke his front tire with one mile to go. I did not stop to help him. He picked his bike up, threw it over his shoulder, and took off running to the finish line.
One race at the start we had a four-bike crash that left four wrestlers with road rash on their legs and hands, they jumped back on their bikes and finished the race all bloody. I would get so nervous before every race that I would get the nervous pees, just like I would get before a tough wrestling match.
We would have three lines of 8-10 wrestlers at the starting line. I would yell “go”, and we would start the course with a half mile hill that would absolutely crush you. It would take about two minutes to do this S.O.B. and when you finally make it to the top you have a severe case of lung burn and you can barely peddle the bike because of all of the lactic acid built up in your legs. You go to spit and part of the spit is touching the road while the other part is still on your lips. The only thought in your head is, “How am I going to be able to finish another eleven and a half miles of this course?” You put your head down and keep peddling.
You have a flat road and downhill for the next two miles, then you make a turn and have a slight uphill climb directly into the wind for the next two miles. Next is what separates the pack, The Nettle Creek Hill. This is a ¾ of a mile hill that I think the devil made. It felt like Mount Everest. This hard climb separates the lead pack from the rest of the team. After this climb your body is numb and you will see on the second lap what the wrestlers had eaten for lunch that day on the road. The first pack still has 3-4 guys as the leaders, 50 yards back would be another small group, and then the line would extend for another half to three quarters of a mile behind that.
At this point you honestly want to quit after the first lap, but you can’t because you have 26 other riders that are doing it so you will yourself to do the second lap for your team.
The second lap has a quick climb and then a three-mile downhill right into a one mile straight away. Finally arrives the hill that would make or break you completely. This is where my son Bo would always make his breakaway and leave me and a few others that were in the lead back behind. This last hill always determined where you ended up in the race because after this hill the rest of the course was flat or down hill.
My son Bo never lost a bike race in the four years we did the bike race. I always got either second or third in the race, but I could never beat Bo.
After my wrestlers would finish the race, they would fall off their bikes and hobble over to the grass and fall to the ground because all the lactic acid that was built up in their legs. They would lie there and moan and groan. They were so dead that they could not even cheer their teammates on as they crossed the line. We would have moms and dads come to watch and cheer their son’s on because they knew how much this workout hurt each of us.
We did this workout every Friday. One Friday it started raining as we started the race. Halfway through the race it started torrential downpouring. Everyone was watching and waiting to see If I was going to stop at the halfway point. I made the turn with the lead pack and all followed, and the rest of the team followed and did not say a word. We all finished the race completely drenched. There were some mothers who were upset with me because of me making their kids do the race in the rain.
We quit the bike race five years ago because one of my wrestlers pulled out in front of a car and the driver of the car was the editor of the local newspaper. There was no accident, but she called me and told me that she had to honk at him. She wrote an article in the paper the next week that said, “A highly recognized coach in the community makes his athletes ride bikes on the road and they are not being careful”. My Athletic Director, who was the Head Coach of our basketball team at the time called me and said we cannot do the bike races anymore. The funny thing is that he and his 5 starters would also do the race with us. I think the basketball coach just did not want to do this brutal workout anymore. No, I am kidding on that, he supported everything we did.
The bike races for my team have ended but me, my sons, and my assistant coaches still do them. I did the bike ride three days ago and Bo still smashed me. My son Mickey passed me with a half mile left to beat me as well. I still hate it hate it as well as love it, that is why I still do it with my sons and coaches.
I passionately believe workouts like the “Bike Race” build “True Team Unity”. By your team suffering both physically and mentally together, they will build a bond that will last a lifetime. There have been many times my past wrestlers will bring up how brutal the bike races were but also how they managed to finish them for the team.
Thanks everyone and hope you have enjoyed this episode.
Stay Safe and Keep Training Hard.
Remember, “Noah didn’t wait for his ship to come in, he built one”.
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