It’s amazing what a difference a year makes. Racing cross is a hard discipline. I don’t know anybody that would debate that. Whether you finish up front or in the middle or in the back, it’s hard. But, oh how funny it is, that, the closer you are to the front, the easier you can say it is. The suffering, the pain, doesn’t hurt quite as much. The sting doesn’t feel quite as bad.
In one race, Sunday at Wissahickon, I erased all the bad memories from last years races. There is a fine line between putting the work in vs mailing it in. Pride is a huge motivating factor for me. I race against some real fast guys. I know my place. I’m not talented enough to win races at my level. But I know if I truly put the effort in, if I truly put the work in, I can hang in amongst some pretty fast fellas. This season I’ve put in the work and I can say I’m proud of where I was at the end. Sure there were 12 others ahead of me. That’s not the point.
I guess it’s all about expectations. If I expect to race in the top 15 without putting the appropriate time and effort in, well, that’s just going to end badly. My lesson learned from last year is to refuse to put expectations on myself. There are a bunch of goal oriented, goal driven people that just wouldn’t understand that statement. Tough poo. This isn’t my retirement account, it’s bike racing. It’s not Elite Nationals, it’s the B’s or 35+. Putting expectations on myself last year took a lot of fun out of riding. Something I love wasn’t fun anymore. Even the best training rides last year still sucked. No more.
So, now, after a good result, I find myself looking ahead. I wasn’t even considering Beacon. Now, by putting the time and effort in, I’ve earned some MAC points and the right to a better starting spot. Would I be a fool to not take advantage of that? Probably. Would I rather spend November 10th hanging out with The Wifey and TLW? Definitely. Will I expect a result similar to Wissy if I do Beacon? What do you think?
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