Paradigm Shift

After the success at the Cam-Rock race and the Ripon collegiate race the next day, I was pretty tired. At the Ripon race you could tell that everyone went pretty deep the day before. I was tired and when I looked back at the rest of the field, expecting them to pass me, they were looking just as tired. So I took some time off that week to rest, getting in a little bit of training, but focusing on the recovery side of things. Going into to Jingle Cross, I made a point of getting school done, getting my head clear so I could focus on the racing. The legs felt pretty good and my head was clear. I was amped and ready.

The drive down was nice, the conversation ranged from serious to ridiculous. Just as it should be in a car full of cyclist. We arrived in ample time to get ready, check out the course and relax. Friday night was a night race, so as the sun went down I started getting ready for a frozen battle.

From the moment the whistle went off, it was. The field wasn’t too deep so I was able to move through the pack and get a good start, almost too good of a start. I found myself on Brian Matter’s wheel on lap 2 thinking, “should I go around him?” I talked to him after the race and it sounded like he had a bad start and the legs were slow to get going. I eventually came around him and made the move into 5^th place. I’d like to stop for a second and say holy crap. At the time it was amazing, but I was focused on holding it. In retrospect, that was pretty awesome. I wasn’t able to hold it, but I still rolled in for 10^th place good for 1 UCI point. It wasn’t an exciting finish, but I was happy to be counted amount the best in the world with a point. The legs were not anything amazing and my head wasn’t totally in it. So I knew I had more.

 

I told myself coming into the weekend that if things were just not going my way on Saturday that I didn’t want to burn myself out by going too hard. I thought it smarter to save a little bit for Sunday where the big points were up for grabs. in the end, it turned out alright, but I might have damned myself by taking it easy because when I missed the move for 10^th, I sat up and took it easy for 17^th place.

After the slightly disappointing finish on Saturday, I spend the night and morning doing everything I could to make sure I was ready and mentally in the game for Sunday. One thing I got wrong Friday going into Saturday was I didn’t drink enough water. I made a point of drinking a tone of water and it made the difference. My legs felt much clearer Sunday. I also put the feet up and did the compression gear along with a good stretch and massage. It did the trick.

I came into Sunday feeling fast and feeling aggressive. I got plenty of practice laps in and a good warm up. Everything was falling into place. When the race started and I moved into about 18^th place, I didn’t give up. I was too charged up to take it easy so I battled for position and started moving up. 1 spot there, and another spot here. They added up until I was riding in the 12-15 group. I was in the points. But I didn’t stop there. I kept the pressure on fighting for every point and position I could. It was a fun and tough battle but I was able to best the 2 two riders after 12^th place got away. It came down to an attack with 2 to go and then just going into full pain mode to hold onto 13^th place. But when I came across the line, there was a little smile on my face.

The weekend was a good learning experience. I had good days and bad days so I can look back and try to understand the differences:

·         Tire Pressure: If you ride tubulars you probably know how sensitive they are to pressure. If you don’t know that, then you’re probably running too high a pressure. I ran too high on Friday and it cost me a few places.

·         Get your head in the game: Do what you have to do, but get focused. Visualizing seemed to help me a lot. Visualize yourself sprinting out of the corners. Focus on putting the power down and working through the progression of each corner. When you’re totally focused, you can give it all.

·         Recovery: Recovery won’t win you a race on day two, but it’s worth a few places and on day 3, its worth a few more. Pull out all the stops, and do all those little goofy things you think help. They might not help, but they are worth it mentally. Don’t stress out about the race, but always be thinking what you need to do next to prepare.

Its hard to say how much all these things helped, but they seemed to be the difference between Saturday and Sunday. An ok day and a great day.So moving forward they will be done before every race, no matter how big or small.

And that leads me to the title of the post. The last few weeks have changed me and how I view racing. I wanted to race professionally since I can remember and it’s been my focus for the last few years now. I’m not saying its going to happen, but I beginning to see the shift. I’m looking for all those little improvements and taking them seriously. I am looking at it like my livelihood depends on it. So hopefully in the next couple of years, it might.

On the edge

The last time I posted on this blog was a while ago, but things have been moving along just as fast. The last WORS race was nothing to call home about, I came in for 13^th which was a good finish, but no what I was looking for. I wasn’t riding the mud all too well, but was still able to hold my own in a pretty deep field. I then had a good finish at the WCA Washington Park race on Halloween where I was second to Matt Shriver. Nothing out of the expected, but I was happy to have a solid finish after the WORS race was a somewhat disappointment.

The following weekend I was heading down to Cincinnati for the Cincy3 CX festival weekend. It’s a big UCI weekend on some good courses. I was excited to race against the pros again and see where I could stack up. Especially after USGP, where I accomplished my goals, but nothing more. Friday was a tough but short course. I didn’t really know what to expect. Was finishing good enough? Or should I expect something more.  Turns out I was riding well. After a good enough start, I was sitting top 20, and only moving up from there. I was picking guys off each lap and making my way up, peaking out at 13^th where I finished. No points, but at the time, points weren’t even in the cards as far as I thought.

Saturday was a night race, so we had all kinds of time to hang out. I watched a few races in the morning, and chatted up the Raleigh team and they offered me a bike! I raced their bikes in the race and was sitting 12^th until I had a mechanical. Not their fault, as I shifted the chain into the spokes and then ripped the wheel out trying to fix it. I ended up running half a lap and got pulled. Not the best, but I was happy with how I handled it. Sunday was another tough day as I flatted mid-way through the race and couldn’t recover. All in all pleased with the surprising performance on Friday and happy with how the rest of the weekend ended up.

I was totally blasted on Sunday though. It’s been a while since I’ve done 3 big races in a row. In fact, it was almost a year. I ended up taking that Tuesday off and using the week mostly for recovery and skills work. I was also organizing the race that weekend, so I was all over the phone and emails that week getting things finished off. Pretty stressful week, but it was totally worth it.

It was totally worth it because I got a pair of nice wins that weekend. The Cam-rock race was good because I didn’t make the same mistake as last year. I sat down a lot and remembered to eat. Legs were firing well during the race and I came through with a dominating 20 second victory over Mark in the P/1/2 and also grabbed a win in the collegiate division. The next day we traveled up to Ripon for their Cookie Cross Collegiate race. I really did enjoy the course, despite it being very tough and technical. I have to say, they used the terrain very well.

Now to keep it short, we’ll talk about next times post a little bit. To be honest, I’m sitting in the hotel room at Jingle Cross Rock feeling happy, but a little tired. I’ve had some success, but I’m looking for more. Keep it posted for a more detailed report later.