It’s Thursday. Normally I feel nervous by Thursday, and whenever my mind wanders to the topic of the weekend’s upcoming races, I feel that ice cold electric shock of nerves in my stomach. But for some reason, I have none of that today.
There are hundreds of little things that could go wrong between now and race day (or days, since it’s a double header), and hundreds more that could occur during the race and screw things up. But…I don’t know…I’m just not bothered by it.
Maybe it’s because I rode decently at CCCX #4 and finished well despite my tactical ineptitude. Perhaps that’s allowed my confidence to recover from the Sacramento Series Finals and Surf City Finals, where I felt as though I was cutting my losses. I’m also quite familiar with the Coyote Point race courses. Even the cold and nasty weather we’re having (it’s raining right now) somehow puts my mind at ease, though there’s certainly no logical reason for that.
It’s also possible that I just don’t really care as much about this weekend compared to those other races. There’s less to lose. At Sac, there was my overall lead. At Watsonville, my overall 3rd. And then of course there’s the momentum of top finishes I’d like to maintain, and also the added motivation of keeping Granshaw behind me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m motivated to ride 100% and I’m aiming at nothing less than victory this weekend, even if it doesn’t seem totally within reach. I still want to do well and I’m set to drill it. Or not. I don’t know.
I have no idea.
What I do know is this. I rode reasonably well on Sunday but made some dumb tactical errors, but even still I’d have liked to have been strong enough to overcome those. But that might not be reasonable. Still, I kept Granshaw away and missed 3rd (and a medal) by a mere 2 seconds. Fudge. It added to my motivation, and my confidence, and further fueling that fire is the fact that my legs feel pretty good even after a hard ride yesterday. So I should be go like hell on Saturday, and again on Sunday, and the rain and mud, well, it doesn’t bother me.
Odd…since I’m merely 6th overall I don’t know if I care how well I do against the big players. I’m mostly worried about Granshaw. Strange, but true.
There are hundreds of little things that could go wrong between now and race day (or days, since it’s a double header), and hundreds more that could occur during the race and screw things up. But…I don’t know…I’m just not bothered by it.
Maybe it’s because I rode decently at CCCX #4 and finished well despite my tactical ineptitude. Perhaps that’s allowed my confidence to recover from the Sacramento Series Finals and Surf City Finals, where I felt as though I was cutting my losses. I’m also quite familiar with the Coyote Point race courses. Even the cold and nasty weather we’re having (it’s raining right now) somehow puts my mind at ease, though there’s certainly no logical reason for that.
It’s also possible that I just don’t really care as much about this weekend compared to those other races. There’s less to lose. At Sac, there was my overall lead. At Watsonville, my overall 3rd. And then of course there’s the momentum of top finishes I’d like to maintain, and also the added motivation of keeping Granshaw behind me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m motivated to ride 100% and I’m aiming at nothing less than victory this weekend, even if it doesn’t seem totally within reach. I still want to do well and I’m set to drill it. Or not. I don’t know.
I have no idea.
What I do know is this. I rode reasonably well on Sunday but made some dumb tactical errors, but even still I’d have liked to have been strong enough to overcome those. But that might not be reasonable. Still, I kept Granshaw away and missed 3rd (and a medal) by a mere 2 seconds. Fudge. It added to my motivation, and my confidence, and further fueling that fire is the fact that my legs feel pretty good even after a hard ride yesterday. So I should be go like hell on Saturday, and again on Sunday, and the rain and mud, well, it doesn’t bother me.
Odd…since I’m merely 6th overall I don’t know if I care how well I do against the big players. I’m mostly worried about Granshaw. Strange, but true.
posted by the seamus at 8:23 PM
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