The quiet before the storm...
Tomorrow is Pilarcitos SuperPrestige Round 2. Possibly the biggest cross race of my life, my best performance ever, or maybe my worst, or most forgetable, with a candy-like shell of mediocrity. Most likely it'll fall somewhere in the middle.
I'm excited. I get a front-line call-up tomorrow from my 5th place finish in the first race...a 5th that could have and learly was a 2nd, though that's another story. The call-up is a big honor, a sortof milestone for me, a point of pride and a considerable tactical advantage, as it guarantees a decent starting position. And since this is a big, important race series, I'm hoping to hold my own and maintain a good overall position with a strong finish tomorrow.
That said, my form has recently skipped town on me. All week I've felt flat. Relatively speedy, but not powerful, strong or anything like the superhero I've occasionally been in recent months, and that's messing up my outlook for tomorrow.
It's tough. You can't let this sort of thing freak you out, or you'll begin to lose the race before it even starts, because you'll expect to have a bad day. It's very, very important to stay mentally focused and sharp, even when the odds are clearly stacked against you. Sure I expect to have less than 100% of my full powers tomorrow, but then again, I'm still very strong, skilled and experienced, and who knows...my competition is also succeptible to colds, bad days, dumb tactical moves and poor mid-week training, lack of sleep, all of that. There's no reason to think that just because my legs feel like wood, that they still won't be enough to turn the screws on the other guys, or that their legs don't also feel like wood. I mean, I can't see that things would be much different for any of my competitors.
The way I see it, racing is a collection of hard days in the saddle, sore legs, bad luck and situations that could have gone better, which leave you muttering "if only this" or "If I hadn't that". And if you're lucky, you'll have a few days sprinkled in here and there when everything does fall into place. Good legs, a course that suits you, no crashes, no flat tires, all the right moves at all the right times, and you'll win, or even just do extremely well. I'm lucky and I've already had a couple days like that in my life, one earlier this season even. But those are the exceptions.
Maybe this is the best way to look at it. In racing, you're probably not going to have a perfect day. So it's really about riding as hard and as smart as you can, and making the most out of an imperfect situation you're likely to be in. And keep in mind that everyone else is in the same boat, trying to do the same thing while enduring similar challenges.
With that in mind, I'm going to imagine that my cometitors have sore, flat legs. That they're mentally and physically tired, maybe on the brink of illness. That they're dreading tomorrow for fear that a gang of fresher, stronger riders are going to take them to task. Think about it...the whole front of the field is like that, just like me. It's a mental game and I just have to get beyond the physical side and push myself harder than I believe I can go.
Tomorrow is Pilarcitos SuperPrestige Round 2. Possibly the biggest cross race of my life, my best performance ever, or maybe my worst, or most forgetable, with a candy-like shell of mediocrity. Most likely it'll fall somewhere in the middle.
I'm excited. I get a front-line call-up tomorrow from my 5th place finish in the first race...a 5th that could have and learly was a 2nd, though that's another story. The call-up is a big honor, a sortof milestone for me, a point of pride and a considerable tactical advantage, as it guarantees a decent starting position. And since this is a big, important race series, I'm hoping to hold my own and maintain a good overall position with a strong finish tomorrow.
That said, my form has recently skipped town on me. All week I've felt flat. Relatively speedy, but not powerful, strong or anything like the superhero I've occasionally been in recent months, and that's messing up my outlook for tomorrow.
It's tough. You can't let this sort of thing freak you out, or you'll begin to lose the race before it even starts, because you'll expect to have a bad day. It's very, very important to stay mentally focused and sharp, even when the odds are clearly stacked against you. Sure I expect to have less than 100% of my full powers tomorrow, but then again, I'm still very strong, skilled and experienced, and who knows...my competition is also succeptible to colds, bad days, dumb tactical moves and poor mid-week training, lack of sleep, all of that. There's no reason to think that just because my legs feel like wood, that they still won't be enough to turn the screws on the other guys, or that their legs don't also feel like wood. I mean, I can't see that things would be much different for any of my competitors.
The way I see it, racing is a collection of hard days in the saddle, sore legs, bad luck and situations that could have gone better, which leave you muttering "if only this" or "If I hadn't that". And if you're lucky, you'll have a few days sprinkled in here and there when everything does fall into place. Good legs, a course that suits you, no crashes, no flat tires, all the right moves at all the right times, and you'll win, or even just do extremely well. I'm lucky and I've already had a couple days like that in my life, one earlier this season even. But those are the exceptions.
Maybe this is the best way to look at it. In racing, you're probably not going to have a perfect day. So it's really about riding as hard and as smart as you can, and making the most out of an imperfect situation you're likely to be in. And keep in mind that everyone else is in the same boat, trying to do the same thing while enduring similar challenges.
With that in mind, I'm going to imagine that my cometitors have sore, flat legs. That they're mentally and physically tired, maybe on the brink of illness. That they're dreading tomorrow for fear that a gang of fresher, stronger riders are going to take them to task. Think about it...the whole front of the field is like that, just like me. It's a mental game and I just have to get beyond the physical side and push myself harder than I believe I can go.
posted by the seamus at 7:58 PM
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