Saturday at nationals: HTFU

After some success on the previous day I headed back to the room and began recovering. I knew that one of the big issues with altitude was recovering so I wanted to make sure I was doing everything I could. I took a warm shower, gave myself a leg massage and put on compression socks. Then I ate a big meal and of course I drank a lot of water. Skip and I did our laundry and prepared for the next day.

The short track course was pretty fun. I woke up early enough to watch the D1 women run their race. It started in the same spot as the XC course and instead of going into the woods for the single track, it kept going up into a pump track that was built into the side of the hill. It just kept going up from there. It was punctuated by a steep little hairpin at the top, then a fast and fun downhill back to the start; simple but effective. I did three warm up laps before heading to start chute for my call up.

I got the same spot on the front row, right where the mud was thick and deep. Same bad start, so I had to fight back from that when the gun went off. I was able to keep good position through the first corner, but once we hit the hill I was completely dead. I can’t describe it any other way, I was completely drained. I started breathing really heavy, but it didn’t matter how many deep breaths I took, I just couldn’t get on top of it. I struggled on the first two laps. Then on the third lap, I started to feel a little better. As if I needed extra motivation, I was told that I was going to get pulled at the end of that lap. Holy crap! I put the hammer down. Not hard though. I gently set the hammer down on a soft surface.

I was pulled after completing only three laps. Ouch, my pride hurts.

Overall I was completely disappointed with my performance. I know there were people who did worse than I did, and I should be proud of my accomplishments. But I was really hoping for more. This was the big goal for the year, the big race that all the hard work boiled down to. I had some great results this year, but it’s disappointing to miss out on the big one. Ended up 48^th in the short track

After flying home and taking some deep breaths (not really, I stayed up all Sunday night finishing homework) I took the time to read some of the race reports and watch some videos. If you look at the results, the top spots were all schools from altitude. In all the post-race interviews, the question came up, do you think altitude played a big role in the racing? The answer in all cases was not really, or maybe a little, it’s not a big deal. I’m sure there were other factors, but I think it is completely the opposite. I think altitude played a huge role. Definitely in the STXC, but still in the XC race. Racers who live and train at altitude have a huge advantage, both at and not at altitude. Again, I’m sure there are other factors, but I think altitude plays a big role. Having said that, is there anything that can be done about it? No, nothing at all. I just have to hope that what the mountain schools gain in fitness, I gain in mental fortitude. I just have to hope that I’m tougher than they could ever be.

And I think there is something to that. If you didn’t read Tristan Schouten’s last blog about the Colorado races, you should probably do that right meow. http://tristanschouten.blogspot.com/2011/11/say-what.html

Tristan is a shining example of the kind of racer that lives in the Midwest. I have looked up to him for a while now, but in the past few months of the CX season, he has really been showing his stuff. He shows that you can work, go to school, whatever it is that you do and still kill it out there against those lucky few who are able to focus on cycling full, or nearly full time. Plus he does this all with a cool head about him. He gets by on just being tough. I think we can all take something from that. Take a page out of Tristan’s book. Don’t worry about what other people have, don’t have, or how you are at a disadvantage, just go out there and let it rip. And don’t forget to be thankful for what you do have, and the people who support you.

Well, thank for reading. That’s all for now. I’ll be taking some time off, but not much. I’ll be out racing CX in the next few weeks, just getting some fitness and bike time in. Look for me out at some WCA cross races; maybe some bigger races like Jingle cross too. But the next big goal is CX nats. Again, big thanks to those who support me. Every text, tweet, and message helps. Huge thanks to my Dad, he’s a man of few words, but each one is incredibly powerful. Also my mom and her most frequent baking ingredient, love. She just gave me a huge batch of cookies. Probably shouldn’t eat them all, but they are just so damn good.