Crossjunkie has a great post on his blog following Boggart Hole last Sunday which has led to a number of comments from readers including myself. Read it and form your own opinion and comment accordingly.
Cross is new to me this year and I have to say I am really enjoying the races, the atmosphere takes me back to when I chased up and down the country racing my mountain bike 20 years ago! We were all doing downhill and cross country on the same bikes and the vibe was pretty cool and laid back off the course with the racing as intense as it could be. Just how I am finding cross races.
The beauty of cross for me is the race with in the race as Alan points out, for many its not about finishing in the top ten but either finishing, beating the guy or girl that beat you last time or only being lapped once by a team mate.
I had convinced myself that I wasn't going to be competitive those days are behind me or so I thought. My aim for this season was to do a few races not get lapped by Alan more than once and just enjoy riding my bike in the mud with no thoughts about where I finished overall.
So why have I now got a turbo trainer and heart rate monitor and have been seen practicing dismounts and remounts? Safe to say I have drawn the line at going for a run.
Sunday despite not feeling 100% I found myself not just waiting in line on the assents but attacking and entering corners with the aim of either catching the rider in front or dropping the rider behind. I was also determined not to let the guy who I spent most of the race with get past me on the final lap, Alan had only lapped me once so that goal was achieved but I was happily opening the door marked pain to keep ahead of the next guy!!
So does it prove that once a competitor always a competitor just with different goals and ambitions?
My new goal is now to see if I can get higher up on the finish line and push Duncan a bit. So if you wish to help me on this quest please make sure Dunc has lots of work to do (order t-shirts, hats and anything else you can think of) and send him a pie!
JUST SEND PIES!...
ReplyDelete....and if anyones reading in New Zealand mine's Steak & Cheese.
Totally agree with Mark never having raced before at all I am still finding it very hard to come to terms with it all, I found riding the course on the MTB is given me better practise at finding lines and more bottle on decants got caught up in the first decent when a girl in front of me was pushed off her bike and found it hard to make up ground, my aim is by next season to be fully deserving lining up with all the other riders in my club colours and not coming last.
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