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 5th 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 10th 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 10th,
I sat up and took it easy for 17th 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 18th 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 12th
place got away. It came down to an attack with 2 to go and then just going into
full pain mode to hold onto 13th 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.
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