The butterfly feeling i always get when i race, i thought i finally rid myself of this past weekend. I'm not sure if i've finally become comfortable before races or what. That went away fairly quickly when i got to the registration table and saw the start list for the pro/19-29 class. It was an AMBC event so i was expecting some big boys to come, wanted to use the race as a test to see where i stood against them.
In an attempt to actually warm up i jumped on my road bike and rode the trainer for a good 40 minutes. Put in a few solid efforts and my legs were ready to roll. After finding someone to do my feed (i hate wearing a camelback) i headed down to the start. This course starts out in a big field and shoots you out into a fireroad climb. The climb has two parts, the end being the steeper of the two. Perfect for stringing out the group, but keeping it some what together. I lined up and started on the second row. Unforunately, as Sandy our local norba official said "GO", some idiot fell literally right on top of me. Great way to start a race where the first bit of the race is extremely important. I got up and charged back to the tail end of the group and made an attempt to weed my way through the group. A very tough thing to do on this climb. I nipped off a few people towards the top of the climb and we were all off into the woods. Mentally i tried staying calm. I didn't want to go into panic-mode and start wasting a ton of energy. The first bit of the trail riding behind the two guys i was stuck behind wasn't bad. They were keeping up a good pace and i thought that the race possibly still had a chance to get myself into the top 10. This trail doesn't have many spots where you can pass on, so if you're stuck, you're stuck. And i was stuck. I could feel panic boiling up in my head on the ridge line section of the course. This is an extremely fast section with no room at all to pass. It's about 3 feet wide, one side is the edge of the woods, and the other end, well you just aren't passing on it. I sat 2nd wheel and did not pedal the entire section. I tried encouraging the person in front of me to try and pick it up a bit but he wouldn't. We hit the first fire road section and i took my chance to come around and try to make up for lost ground. Apparently quite a few guys came around, when we hit the next section of trail one guy got around me and started to flow down the tight singletrack. I tried following his wheel, but he lost me through some of the really tight stuff. It was apparent to me what i'd lost over the past few years from not racing mountain bikes a lot. The simple flow through tight single track, gone. Something i used to excel extremely well at just gone. That fact bothered me a bit during the race but i didn't let it get me down. It made chasing the guys down in front of me a bit tougher. During the entire race i had 2 guys just lingering in front of me. I'd close the gap down during the open sections and on the small climbs and they'd open it right back through the single track sections. Very frustrating. Even more frustrating when the last lap i gave everything i could muster to try and not only catch them, but pass and put time on them so i would have a small buffer zone in the singletrack. However, it just wasn't meant to be. I crossed the line 15th, something i wasn't overly happy about at all. My legs crapped out on me going up the last 2 climbs. I checked quite a few times to make sure no one was behind me so i could cruise to the line.
Somethings i know i need to work on in order to race mountain bikes again. Like actually riding it. For whatever reason i figured all the skills would still be there after racing mountain bikes for years, wrong. Time to start riding local trails again and doing intervals out in the woods instead of just relaying on racing to cover it. Probably something i did well as a junior was spending time working on my handling skills with a few local pros. There was a trail about 3.5miles from my front door when i lived in the burbs. Spent a lot of time there. Wasn't the greatest place to ride, but the trails were fairly tight and forced you to learn how to ride maintaining the most amount of speed you possibly could through sections.
Next week......Roswell crit and twilight if i'm feeling good after the "camping trip".
In an attempt to actually warm up i jumped on my road bike and rode the trainer for a good 40 minutes. Put in a few solid efforts and my legs were ready to roll. After finding someone to do my feed (i hate wearing a camelback) i headed down to the start. This course starts out in a big field and shoots you out into a fireroad climb. The climb has two parts, the end being the steeper of the two. Perfect for stringing out the group, but keeping it some what together. I lined up and started on the second row. Unforunately, as Sandy our local norba official said "GO", some idiot fell literally right on top of me. Great way to start a race where the first bit of the race is extremely important. I got up and charged back to the tail end of the group and made an attempt to weed my way through the group. A very tough thing to do on this climb. I nipped off a few people towards the top of the climb and we were all off into the woods. Mentally i tried staying calm. I didn't want to go into panic-mode and start wasting a ton of energy. The first bit of the trail riding behind the two guys i was stuck behind wasn't bad. They were keeping up a good pace and i thought that the race possibly still had a chance to get myself into the top 10. This trail doesn't have many spots where you can pass on, so if you're stuck, you're stuck. And i was stuck. I could feel panic boiling up in my head on the ridge line section of the course. This is an extremely fast section with no room at all to pass. It's about 3 feet wide, one side is the edge of the woods, and the other end, well you just aren't passing on it. I sat 2nd wheel and did not pedal the entire section. I tried encouraging the person in front of me to try and pick it up a bit but he wouldn't. We hit the first fire road section and i took my chance to come around and try to make up for lost ground. Apparently quite a few guys came around, when we hit the next section of trail one guy got around me and started to flow down the tight singletrack. I tried following his wheel, but he lost me through some of the really tight stuff. It was apparent to me what i'd lost over the past few years from not racing mountain bikes a lot. The simple flow through tight single track, gone. Something i used to excel extremely well at just gone. That fact bothered me a bit during the race but i didn't let it get me down. It made chasing the guys down in front of me a bit tougher. During the entire race i had 2 guys just lingering in front of me. I'd close the gap down during the open sections and on the small climbs and they'd open it right back through the single track sections. Very frustrating. Even more frustrating when the last lap i gave everything i could muster to try and not only catch them, but pass and put time on them so i would have a small buffer zone in the singletrack. However, it just wasn't meant to be. I crossed the line 15th, something i wasn't overly happy about at all. My legs crapped out on me going up the last 2 climbs. I checked quite a few times to make sure no one was behind me so i could cruise to the line.
Somethings i know i need to work on in order to race mountain bikes again. Like actually riding it. For whatever reason i figured all the skills would still be there after racing mountain bikes for years, wrong. Time to start riding local trails again and doing intervals out in the woods instead of just relaying on racing to cover it. Probably something i did well as a junior was spending time working on my handling skills with a few local pros. There was a trail about 3.5miles from my front door when i lived in the burbs. Spent a lot of time there. Wasn't the greatest place to ride, but the trails were fairly tight and forced you to learn how to ride maintaining the most amount of speed you possibly could through sections.
Next week......Roswell crit and twilight if i'm feeling good after the "camping trip".
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