British MBS in Sherwood, the first international xc of the year, UCI c1 classified, lots of world class competition, bad day at the office.
I had a bad start, didn’t get off fast enough and couldn’t pass enough people before we hit the first singletrack, not ideal but its a long race so it shouldn’t have been over then. Into lots of tight, flat pedally singletrack I could do no more than follow the wheel in front until the course opened up a bit and I could move up. By that stage a lead group had moved off, I should have been up there but instead tried to focus on Lee Craigie just ahead. I chased for a lap or so, working fairly hard but struggling to get into real race mode, I just couldn’t get into that extra gear both mentally and physically.
Two girls caught me from behind and I jumped on for a while but couldn’t hold the pace. What was going on? I tried to stay interested, to make myself angry, to tell myself to push, that I could do better. Nothing worked. The course at Sherwood is unbelievable for its ability to sap all the energy from your legs and desire to race from your brain, its not just that its flat but I find it impossible to race. The singletrack is alright, tight and twisty but very bumpy so even of you’re not pedalling its draining the leg muscles and there are no descents to recover on. If I’d felt strong it might have been different, but once you’re going badly there is no adrenaline filled descents to get you going so the whole thing quickly becomes very miserable.
On lap 4 I tried a new line which didn’t work and I crashed into a bump. As I stopped to twist my handlebars back into place I was caught from behind again. After that I finally got slightly into racing mode, it was easier working with someone on the fireroads and we kept jumping in front of each other trying to lead in the singletrack. This continued until towards the end of the last lap so I started to get psyched for a sprint finish, not something I was keen on having to do at that stage! Luckily I attacked on one of the tight trails 3km from the end and got a gap that I kept until the end. I finished 10th, way of the pace, way of my own expectations, and not impressed (results here).
So what went wrong? Maybe I’m not recovered from Spain? Maybe pushing super hard against Mel in Ireland last week was a bad idea? Maybe I did too much in the week? Maybe I’ve been kidding myself all winter? God knows but at least I don’t have to go back there for another year! Even better, 5 days until real mountain biking…
Thanks to WXC for the excellent race support and SIP events for the shiny new bikes, I’ll race like I deserve it next time.