The Race: Leonardtown MABRA Crit Championship
The Course: 20 miles
The Field: Pro 1/2/3 women
The Finish: 6th
This was not my day. I don’t know why – maybe I was tired from Poolesville, maybe I didn’t do what I should have done to recover properly and prepare for this race, maybe it was just an off day with no explanation beyond that. I know I’m having a less than great day when I’m acutely aware of how many laps remain, and also when I regularly think of pulling out of the race. It’s a crappy internal dialogue and one I should have shut off the second it started, but I didn’t and that’s that. The neutralization of our race with six laps to go sucked, but I don’t think it either hurt or helped me. The race was a very normal crit: there were lots of strong riders, good attacks, shifts in position within the field, etc. I just didn’t feel strong or energized and I rolled around the course like a passenger in the peloton. I didn’t choose the best line into the final corner and sprinted as well as I could to sixth place. Much more notable was Monika’s performance – she rode hard, attacked the field and got away for a little bit, covered lots of moves, and finished with a great sprint for second. It was awesome to watch her go like she was on a mission, and I couldn’t help but cheer for her from the peloton while she was up the road.
I’m not great at handling races where I don’t feel good. It’s hard to remember that it’s okay to have off days, that even the best riders have days where things don’t come together. The compulsive, crazy part of me (which is what, like, 98%?) thinks that if I’m going to end up being really good at this and end up making it as a pro, that means I should be able to consistently and repeatedly knock it out of the park race after race. But it doesn’t work that way – some days other people get to knock it out of the park and you just get to drag your butt across the finish line and take home some lessons learned.
And when you rack up as many podium finishes as you tend to, finishing this kind of race is every bit as important as the win the day before. Nobody’s 100% all the time, but the best riders are the ones that realize it and collect what they can and a less-than-perfect day. Besides, a bad day coming after more good ones than I can count ain’t so awful!
And listening to Joe try to figure out exactly who those “XO riders moving to the front” were was just downright entertaining.
It is a mental thing more than anything – the ability to concentrate and commit to a race. Poolesville is physically tough but also very mentally draining. It is hard to come back the next day with motivation to fully commit to a crit. Nothing wrong with physically racing and getting a hard effort in but knowing mentally you were not 100% in it. Got to refresh and reboot from time to time.
Way to race back to back days. Keep in mind the whole “listen to your body” part of the equation. It will often tell you in advance what type of performance you can physically turn in. Of course, this has minimal bearing on placings as tactics, team work and strategy become prevalent. That being said – congrats on great weekend of racing!
If the choice is winning the Pro 1/2/3 at Poolesville or Leonardtown, I’d say you picked the right burg-field to dominate. Congrats.
Great stuff! Fun watching and racing with you. Trust the funk will go away. Keep it rollin’. Cheers!
Sometimes you get to drink Champagne and sometimes you must drink cough medicine. I think my point here is that both will make you pee…or wait, what was my point?