I can't start this report off without saying a massive thank you to Craig and Rebekah Tregurtha. Cross Country racing in Christchurch would not be where it is today if it wasn't for the selfless hours they have both put into the Christchurch Singletrack Club, trail building, and event organisation over the years. I certainly wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't have had their events as motivation after my heart issues. And to top things off, after organising a super successful event that competitors and spectators alike enjoyed, Craig topped things off by winning his category.... pretty damn impressive.
I really wasn't sure what to expect going into this race after my performance the previous weekend. I've been asked a few times why I didn't race elite, and in all honesty, my results show why I didn't go elite. While I may be able to go alright over long distances, short races like these require an entirely differently focus, and with the current level of talent we have in NZ, I still have a lot of work to do to be able to line up beside them (over 3 minutes a lap in fact...)
I knew I was going to be in for an interesting race starting at the back of almost 60 riders due to the way the starting waves were ordered. As I alluded to in my previous post, fast starts really aren't my thing and this was going to require some magic to get in a good position before the singletrack. Either magic exists or dropping 1.3kg off your bike by stealing your girlfriends carbon wheels helps with starts... It's probably the second part but I certainly found myself moving up through the field pretty quickly.
The first lap certainly hurt, mainly due to the constant surges in pace required to pass people when I got the opportunity. By the end of the first climb I had got myself in a reasonable position where I wasn't getting held up too badly. I was nervous going into the descents as I knew from my track preview the previous day that things were rather wet. Fortunately the track had dried out a lot over night and was in probably the best condition I've seen. It still didn't help me much going into the second lap as my lungs were burning from the effort required to get a slightly clearer track allowing me to ride at my pace, rather than a pace dictated by those around me.
Thanks to living so close to the course, I have ridden the sections numerous times, both in training and during club races. This was a huge help both physically and mentally through out the race to be able to catch people and know when to surge to pass people. Coming into the 3rd lap I had caught up to a wee group which included two other riders from my category. The race was on.
I was giving it my all, and unfortunately for me so were the others. As soon as we caught some lap traffic on the last climb of that third lap and one of the riders managed to slip, past, I knew it was over. Seeing him manage to easily ride off into the distance while we were held up was slightly annoying, however post race while reviewing the lap times, he continued to lap quicker so he was just stronger on the day.
Coming into the final lap I heard I was in third place with only a few seconds advantage over fourth. I knew I had to do something special on this final lap to maintain my position so I really pushed up the main climb. With my gap over fourth increased I focused on being smooth and trying to not make any mistakes in the last few technical features. Unfortunately my focus on being smooth also meant all of the sudden fourth place was back on my tail with only a couple of turns to go the finish! The crowd were going crazy coming into the finish. It's certainly one advantage of these shorter lap races, you don't tend to get quite the same atmosphere during long events. I have to admit I got lucky here and the other rider didn't try sprint me, I don't think I had the legs for a proper sprint finish if he had have had a go!
Like any racer I would have loved to have finished first but in all honesty my performance was the best I could have hoped for on the day and my power figures were far higher than I've seen before. I gave it my all and at the end of the day that's all that matters. It's given me a boost in confidence that my training is indeed going in the right direction and I now can't wait to actually to do the style of races I've been training for, crazy long!
I really wasn't sure what to expect going into this race after my performance the previous weekend. I've been asked a few times why I didn't race elite, and in all honesty, my results show why I didn't go elite. While I may be able to go alright over long distances, short races like these require an entirely differently focus, and with the current level of talent we have in NZ, I still have a lot of work to do to be able to line up beside them (over 3 minutes a lap in fact...)
I knew I was going to be in for an interesting race starting at the back of almost 60 riders due to the way the starting waves were ordered. As I alluded to in my previous post, fast starts really aren't my thing and this was going to require some magic to get in a good position before the singletrack. Either magic exists or dropping 1.3kg off your bike by stealing your girlfriends carbon wheels helps with starts... It's probably the second part but I certainly found myself moving up through the field pretty quickly.
The first lap certainly hurt, mainly due to the constant surges in pace required to pass people when I got the opportunity. By the end of the first climb I had got myself in a reasonable position where I wasn't getting held up too badly. I was nervous going into the descents as I knew from my track preview the previous day that things were rather wet. Fortunately the track had dried out a lot over night and was in probably the best condition I've seen. It still didn't help me much going into the second lap as my lungs were burning from the effort required to get a slightly clearer track allowing me to ride at my pace, rather than a pace dictated by those around me.
Thanks to living so close to the course, I have ridden the sections numerous times, both in training and during club races. This was a huge help both physically and mentally through out the race to be able to catch people and know when to surge to pass people. Coming into the 3rd lap I had caught up to a wee group which included two other riders from my category. The race was on.
I was giving it my all, and unfortunately for me so were the others. As soon as we caught some lap traffic on the last climb of that third lap and one of the riders managed to slip, past, I knew it was over. Seeing him manage to easily ride off into the distance while we were held up was slightly annoying, however post race while reviewing the lap times, he continued to lap quicker so he was just stronger on the day.
Coming into the final lap I heard I was in third place with only a few seconds advantage over fourth. I knew I had to do something special on this final lap to maintain my position so I really pushed up the main climb. With my gap over fourth increased I focused on being smooth and trying to not make any mistakes in the last few technical features. Unfortunately my focus on being smooth also meant all of the sudden fourth place was back on my tail with only a couple of turns to go the finish! The crowd were going crazy coming into the finish. It's certainly one advantage of these shorter lap races, you don't tend to get quite the same atmosphere during long events. I have to admit I got lucky here and the other rider didn't try sprint me, I don't think I had the legs for a proper sprint finish if he had have had a go!
 |
| 3rd on the day but a big gain in confidence |
Like any racer I would have loved to have finished first but in all honesty my performance was the best I could have hoped for on the day and my power figures were far higher than I've seen before. I gave it my all and at the end of the day that's all that matters. It's given me a boost in confidence that my training is indeed going in the right direction and I now can't wait to actually to do the style of races I've been training for, crazy long!
Comments
Post a Comment