064: seriously

Decompress.

Season is over for me. I have high hopes for my friends as I watch with baited breath for information coming back from Bend. Been weird not squeezing in work outs, or stretching or eating or frankly packing my bag again. This week. I fully expect withdrawal to hit me soon. I have to admit, it was totally awesome sleeping in Sunday.

This week I have been cleaning bikes, transferring the cross bikes to the basement, moutainbike to the garage.

The plan for this week is simple, And as my Mayhew said repeatedly:
Seriously, for Dec I'd say only ride on the weekends or with your wife.
Seriously, take a damn break.
And finally:
Awesome job. Keep in touch, seriously. But don't ride. Seriously
Seriously, no riding this week.

My coach is serious about me not riding for a few weeks.

As is generally the tradition around here, I reveal my 2009 goals for cross, and how I made out with them. So here I go:

1. Maryland State Championship
Failed.
MABRA Champs/State champs was a bad race for me. I didn’t even sniff a medal. Had fun on the course, took 24th overall, 7th for MD 34-39. Good news my teammates swept the state and the age group (Auer, Nystrom, Lilibridge). Next year I move up to the 40-44 class. New folks to battle against, again I will strive for the elusive second state championship.

2. Earn a prize from the Suit Case of Sausage.
Success.

3. Top 20 Overall in MAC Elite Masters 1/2/3
Failed.
I can pinpoint when I knew this one slipped away. It was at Beacon when I was in 20th and hurting, and then needed a bike change and threw my bike right into Diane. I was sick, but should have come away with some points this day and did not. My race was pretty much over as I finished 30th, and the next day 37th, getting shut out of the points and essentially lost my opportunity shot at this goal… I knew I had to score in at least 6-7 races to have a shot at this. Getting shut out in New Jersey killed me.

4. Top 15 IN a MAC Race
Success.
2x: Granogue 11th, Wissahickon 15th, and hell I’ll throw Charm City in here at 16th…

5. Score points in each MAC Race I entered.
Failed.
Rolling a tubie at Nittany killed this one before the season really got rolling.
This was all part of my master plan that went to hell in a hand basket in New Jersey See #3

6. Earn Seat at the Master’s Table.
Incomplete:
Early in the year I remember sitting on Fergie's wheel and at some point during the race I was freaking out "holy shit, that's Fergie's wheel, I'm in a group with Fergie, holy hell..." I really shit the bed after Granogue/Wiss. I think part of that is learning to race with the masters, that the intensity is just higher. An analogy for me was like a college player who starts strong in the NBA but as the longer, more intense NBA season goes on, the college kid fades out. I have to get better at that. Now look, when I look at my nemeses and victims, these are all very good cross riders, so that's cool.Sven, Jan and Auer are teammates. I don't really count them on this list.
Overall, for next year I know that I have done well in the mud, but I need to improve on my consistency across the board. I need to get better at pack racing, and faster legs. definitely faster legs. Am I respected as a racer by my peers? 26th in the MAC, 27th in the MABRA and 15th in the PA. Not the most stellar rankings ever. I can do better. I will do better. Maybe it was a bad goal to start with... But I certainly hope to continue to earn my spot in the elite master's class.
I’ll also admit a lot of the formulation of these goals, I kept a square eye on 2010. I had frankly hoped to put myself in a better starting position for 2010, and try to make some gains in my results.

In the MAC for the first 4 races I started in the 4th row at best. Scrum is a stress, but I did a bunch of it. Racing wise it was a lot of work to try and move up on the first lap. I often burnt matches that I would have loved to had at the end of the race. I admit the past few years I have been spoiled with front row starts in the killer B’s and even in the MABRA Series I never seemed to be further back than row 3, and had little trouble getting to the front pretty easily. (This year was a different story in the mabra). Ironically, my best staring position, 2nd row, for Beacon and Highland were my worst MAC races of the year. I almost think that I got used to the urgency of moving up starting in the 4/5 row, and when I started further up the rhythm of my race was thrown off.

Maybe I over think this stuff too much?

Based on my final ranking I look destined to start in the 4th row again next year for the first weekend. For what it’s worth the difference here is that going into opening weekend last year, it was a scrum to row 5, and for 2010, I’ve earned my 4th row starting position. I can live with that…

Okay, too much race thought. I’m gonna go eat a donut or something.

Thanks for reading.

respect
fm