Four long months since my last race and I am finally back on the start line! My MTB season commenced at the first round of the Southern XC series, Checkendon (Reading), I have raced this course most years since I was 13 so I know it root by root. A pan flat, dry but very twisty course made for a quick race. With only a few long straights, one being the start/finish, rooty corners in the forest made up the rest of the lap. Many say a very simple course and non-challenging, yes, not conventionally ‘scary’ but if you can't corner whilst carrying speed you’ll be dropped quickly.
I got the holeshot, leading the pack into the technical woods, soon enough a group of 6 of us were together and pushing each other on. The ‘pain train’ stayed strong the whole race creating some very consistent lap times. Racing in a group is so much easier as you don't have that mental battle of “ouch my legs hurt” in the forefront of your brain, rather you focus on holding a wheel. Realising it would be a sprint finish, we started preparing ourselves in the last half lap, I was in second wheel and confident in my sprint abilities as I have always been good at explosive power. Coming into the final corner I was ready and prepped to go but didn't anticipate the lead rider attacking out of the final corner as there was still 150-200m to the line. I missed the jump by a split second and found myself playing catch up in those final 100m before the finish. Unluckily, I was pipped on the line and finished 3rd Elite female however there was only 0.7s between myself and the winner!! I've never really experienced a proper sprint finish like that so there's definitely some tactics to be learnt there. I am super happy with this race as it showed the long hours on the bike and in the gym have made a difference and I can really start to see my form showing. Last weekend I raced the second round of the Southern XC MTB series at Crow Hill (New Forest); a very hilly, loamy aka. a draggy and energy-sapping course. I was racing on the back of a rest week after a huge block of training the weeks before. Risky for me, as previously I have found that I don’t race as well when I have rested massively prior to a race, eg. my legs work better under a bigger load of training with only a smaller rest before (I feel less sluggish and into the swing of hard efforts). A strong first lap, I felt smooth and could really kick well in and out the saddle up the climbs, something I have worked on. As I came into lap 2 the legs began to burn as first lap excitement wore off, it would now be a mental battle. A jammed chain set me back 20s and I dropped the wheel in front; like I mentioned earlier, a race alone is tougher in the mind as you are immersed in your own pain and destructive thoughts. The more tired you become the more the negativity spirals out of control. I have worked on my race mentality a lot previously, techniques have worked well but I think the lack of racing has meant I just simply haven't put it to practise**. I ended lasp 3 with a DNF, not how anyone wants to end a race, and certainly my pride/ego said “NO!”, but it's not what everyone else thinks about my race, only I know what's happening in my head! I won’t dwell on the “bad days out” because I know they don’t define me as a rider; a mixture of poor race prep and a poor mindset simply meant I left knowing what does and doesn't work for me. Check out my race calendar on my home page to see what racing i've got coming up!! Thanks to Pedal Potential, for the support it's really appreciated. Thanks for reading, Amy :) x ** Yes, it is something that needs practising and building over time, a good book I read on this topic is “The Brave Athlete: Calm the F*ck Down and Rise to the Occasion".
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