The Wisconsin Off-Road Series race number two at Treadfest did not disappoint. What started out as a cold and overcast day, gave way to warmer temperatures and sunshine by the time the Comp Men’s race started shortly after 2 PM. I positioned myself towards the back of the field, because I knew that there was almost no way that I would be in contention with the top riders. I give a lot of credit to those that place in the top positions. They are definitely much faster than I am.
Throughout the race, I maintained a consistent pace without burning too many matches in the early stages of the race. In hindsight, hills seem to be my nemesis, especially the long and grinding climbs like the start hill and the hill just before the finish on the course at Treadfest. Unfortunately, at one point I pulled off the course to let an elite rider through and wasn’t aware that a branch had become wedged in my rear wheel in the process. When I resumed my race, I heard the branch snap, but didn’t realize until after the race that I had also broken a spoke. I rode just about a lap and a half with a broken spoke rattling around in my rear wheel. I have to take my bike in for some long overdue maintenance anyway so that’s just another item to add to the list.
Racing is not the time to analyze. Analyzing is for after. Racing is for doing. ~ Hannah Otto
I heard this quote while listening to the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast presented by Trainer Road. Hannah Otto was talking about how she had a pretty rough time at Sea Otter. In the past, I would find myself being stuck in the mental trap of analyzing my performance while I was racing. It’s a distraction, it isn’t helpful, and it reduces your focus from the task at hand. In addition, unless your issue is a mechanical or something of that nature, you’re not going to be able to fix it while racing. I had to work pretty hard to maintain this focus as I was riding yesterday. While it didn’t feel as much of a struggle as the race two weeks ago at the Englewood Open, my finishing time was 1:48:32. 23 minutes behind first place and 20 minutes off the podium for my age group. I finished the race 16th out of 17 for my age group and 40th out of 46 overall. I would be lying if I said that I am not disappointed that I’m not earning podium places this year but I’m also realizing things that I need to work on.
I can’t really make a realistic comparison between my results from last year and this year because the courses are so different. The Comp category rides a longer and more challenging course than the Citizen category that I raced last year rides. Even if I had decided to race in the Sport category, I still would have finished in the bottom half for my age group and overall. I was feeling pretty disappointed by my performances this year. However, taking some time to reflect has given me a better perspective on how things are going and where they are heading.
I have set numerous personal records on both of the courses that I have raced so far this year. I’m getting faster and am feeling more confident on the bike. I’m getting better at technical sections that require choosing a good line and utilizing proper bike/body mechanics. Post race analysis has given me some ideas for things I need to work on. I need to improve my ability to grind out long hills at speed. I also need to work on loose technical corners and learn how to take them at speed. In addition, I think getting a dropper post would assist with some of the loose, rocky technical climbs that seem to cause issues for me. For things that I did well during the race, I managed to make it through some technical areas that gave me grief during my previous rides without any issues. I managed to keep the rubber side down and the only mishap occurred when I took a corner just a little too wide and kinda slammed my shoulder into a tree.
The third race of the series is in just two short weeks at the Battle of Camrock on June 1st. I’m definitely looking forward to this one and have a lot of work (and some recovery) to do before then. CamRock is a great venue and its a lot of fun to ride there. Since the course is only 30 minutes from my house, it is almost like a home race for me. Finally, I bought a new pair of trail running shoes, so I’m going to be doing some trail running for the first time in almost 5 years.