Ravin' on... Racin' Goals

[BikeMomma]

I have been disappointed at my results before, but never felt despair. And over a bike race? Crazy! But we had so many in the house I really couldn't talk it through comfortably with anyone. I just wasn't expecting the intensity of the emotion - and over a club race... and I didn't understand myself.

Next week, my game plan is changing. I will stay with them as long as I can and do no work at all (one mistake on Saturday was I tried to shut down a break! ......... So next week I sit in, hang on and if I don't enjoy it, I will ride back down a grade for the rest of the summer series.

.......

So I'm off to spin gently to work, a nice hours ride as the sun rises... thats what its about. I love riding on empty roads.

The intensity of the emotion and the despair you felt just show how much your heart is in this sport, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Sounds like a great game plan.

Hope your gentle spin was as nice as it sounds.
~BikeMomma

[RoadRaven]

Trek, BM and Geonz

Thanks for your words...

Yes, yesterdays ride to work was lovely, the sun was still nesteled in the clouds and the temp was a mild 18'
The ride home a bit tougher, head wind all the way - about 15kph at full speed! - my partner came and collected me before the final few hills which was a welcome surprise.

Am all geared up for having another go in the road race this Saturday... having another go is what its about really.
Looking on the website and final times, my grade (F) was actually faster than E - so maybe it was just an extra fast day for the F graders and therefore my bad luck. (But there was a bright side, being finished and relatively fresh meant I was able to assist after a crash in another grade's sprint finish and hold the guy's elbow/arm clear of the road til the ambulance arrived and staunch some of the blood loss)
http://www.ramblers.co.nz/club_resul...ail.asp?id=324

And am looking forward to the ITT on Thursday next week - I'll be one of the slower times there as only the really keen TTers tend to emerge on the Thursday nights. But the very cool thing about TTs is its about personal bests and giving yourself a thrashing! So am hoping to best my PB that day - raging emotions will def be put to good use there, Geonz!


Feeling brighter and much more enthusiastic
~Rave~

[SheFly]

Hey you! Just coming back to this thread, and troubled by you thinking that you SUCK. Now, repeat after me: "I DO NOT SUCK". Now go write that 100 times...

Seriously, Raven, think of all you have accomplished in the past year - none of that shows that "you suck". I agree with BM - if you are not having fun with the racing, you need to take a step back and consider what you are doing and what your motivation is. Trust me when I tell you that I KNOW what it is like to feel so discouraged after a race that you question what you are doing, but you learn from it and move on.

I also agree with BM's on-the-fly strategy changes. It is "easy" to come up with a pre-race strategy, but lots of different things can happen during the race to require a chang ein strategy or goal. I remember my very first TT - my goal was NOT to get passed by a woman who started a few places behind me (and was a Cat 2 racer). When she did pass me, I changed my goal to not let her out of my sight (which worked!).

Remember this: you are out there racing when scores of other women are not; you gave it your all; you had fun (I hope).

Good luck at the TT this week and at the race this weekend. Above all else, have FUN!

SheFly

[RoadRaven]

Well... about time to get back in here and 'fess up... last Thursday was the last TT of the Summer Racing Series for our club, and I did go...

I have been waiting on everyone's times being published, but the full and "official" results are not up yet. So I do not know how I went in relation to the other 25-30 people there (although a significant number starting behind me did pass me!!)

HOWEVER... I did shave one and a half minutes off my PB (set in October 2005) for this course (the Dump Block). Its in my 2007 goals to do it in 32 minutes, and I did it in about 35 I think.
3 more minutes is probably unrealistic to shave off this new PB by the end of the year... but I'll see how much closer I can get!

As for the road race on the Saturday before that? Well, I did get dropped, but I stayed with the tail enders of my grade and wasn't the last one home - that has to be an improvement right?

I didn't race this last Saturday as I had a root canal on Friday and my head still felt a bit strange. Last road race for the summer series this Saturday - its hilly, and I think I will be riding much of it on my own... but thats ok - I'll treat it as a training ride and see if I can do a PB over it.

[SheFly]

Congrats on the TT result! A full minute and a half is an excellent improvement and achievement - I think it must have been those new shifters .

Also, good job on the RR. Remember - you went, you raced, you didn't finish last, and YOU HAD FUN! Keep that in mind this coming Saturday as well.

I did a really hilly RR this past summer, and got shelled out of the main pack at about mile 5 of 30. I worked on my own for quite awhile, resorting to full on TT mode to try and bridge any gap. As it turned out, a small group behind me was working well together, and caught me. Four of us ended up finishing the race together by using a double-rotating paceline. We had a great race, and worked really well together, even though none of us were teammates! I wish you a similarly good experience on Saturday!

Congrats again - be proud of your accomplishments!

SheFly

[Trekhawk]

HOWEVER... I did shave one and a half minutes off my PB (set in October 2005) for this course (the Dump Block). Its in my 2007 goals to do it in 32 minutes, and I did it in about 35 I think.
3 more minutes is probably unrealistic to shave off this new PB by the end of the year... but I'll see how much closer I can get!

As for the road race on the Saturday before that? Well, I did get dropped, but I stayed with the tail enders of my grade and wasn't the last one home - that has to be an improvement right?

I didn't race this last Saturday as I had a root canal on Friday and my head still felt a bit strange. Last road race for the summer series this Saturday - its hilly, and I think I will be riding much of it on my own... but thats ok - I'll treat it as a training ride and see if I can do a PB over it.

Congratulations and good luck for Saturday.

[RoadRaven]

Hey there Shefly and Trek - belated thanks for your words and support


Well, I am still trying to find my place in the new grade... I finish and people ask me how it was and I answer with cautious enthusiasm (for example... "well, last time I was dropped completely and came in last, but today I was NOT completely dropped and was 4th to last - gotta be improving, right?")

So anyway, I raced on Saturday, although I only did two thirds of it (it was a 3 lap course) as I waited with a guy who had crashed until he was collected... his group had called the SAG wagon and then left him, but when my grade went by and I called out he was disoriented and so I stopped and pleased I did - his helmet was mushed in on one side and the marshall that arrived took him to hospital for concussion.

So the Saturday race was not so intense as it may have been - which is just as well because on Sunday it was the Tremain's Coorporate Triathalon. I had set a goal at the end of last year of 34 minutes for the 20km (which would have been a 32.5average), however, the course was changed and we had an almost gale-force westerly on the way out (head wind) and on the return leg a southerly squall blew through, negating what should have been a tail wind (when I got back the ocean was as falt as a mill-pond despite them not allowing the kayakers to go out in the first section, and halving the distance the swimmers had because the wind was so dreadful!). So with the wind working against me, and the course change, I managed and average speed of 31.kph... which I was annoyed with on the day, but retrospectively it was a good time.

I have the last TT of the season this Saturday and am hoping to perform well. I know the road well, and have done one TT on this course before. I took 38.56 mins - 30.83 average.

If we have ideal conditions this Saturday, I will be aiming for 35 1/2 minutes which is an average of 33.8, but will be satisfied if my average is anything over 32kph. Here's hoping...

[RoadRaven]

Well... I am thrilled and gutted at the same time...

It was a tough day, tough conditions... nasty head and cross winds out and back.

It was a tough day... I started behind my 13 year old son with the goal of doing a better time than him, or close to his time... it was my last chance to "beat" him.

It was a tough day... my partner was too sick to race himself, let alone be my support crew... it would have been good to have him there.

It was a tough day... the marshalls measured .8 of a kilometre too much - significant when you pace yourself in a TT.

However, my head was in a good space. I did a 20kmTT of sorts the previous weekend, I had done a very good time despite outrageous gale-force winds - I knew I was in good racing form.

The outward leg was tough... cross head wind most of the way and my speedo hovered between 29- and 32... I just wanted to keep it up to 32 if I could, I would have a tail wind home... right?

Two men passed me on way out... bugger... and slowly my son opened the gap... no worries, a tail wind behind me on the way back will ensure I made up those vital seconds i was losing...

Wrong, wind shift and cross winds and some head wind on the way back too. I was able to lift my speed to 34-35 at times, but I have no endurance yet to maintain it and the slight undulations became hills which dropped me back to 28-29kph.

I didn't see my son again, but I did manage to up my rythym and catch the two guys who had passed me earlier - a huge mental advantage in a TT.

So I get back, worn out and once off the bike doing the funny walk that only a good buttock and thigh workout - combined with slightly numb girly bits) gives you.

The official results were posted on the web yesterday. My son's time was faster than me by 48seconds... I am wrapped for him.

I did a PB on that course - last time over 20km I managed a 30kph average... this time over 25.8km I managed 31.48 average (in tougher conditions).

However, the woman I beat in the last TT by over 30 seconds, had a better time than me by 1min45secs... so thats where I was gutted. We have both been improving, but she has improved more...

I know, I know, TTs are about you and the clock... but we do tend to peek and compare others times and although she did less than a km faster than me... it gives me a goal.

I am heading into the tough zone of racing now though. To lift one's speed from 32kph to 40kph requires TWICE the power output... realistically, because of my age and gender, I will be lucky to get to 35-36kph... but that must be some 60-70% more effort in terms of increasing my power. Two-three years to do this I guess???

Ah well... gotta have a goal, huh?