BBC Racer

Tailgunning to 2010

Well the season is finally over! I finished up with the Giro di San Francisco and posted another DNF. Despite that, 2009 was a great racing year. I met almost all of my pre-season goals and hurdled a mental barrier at the start of the year.

2009 Rewind

2008 ended abruptly as I was involved in a bad crash at the San Francisco Twilight race. The worst thing about ending your season with a crash is that you don’t get the chance to hop back on the bike the next week and take on and defeat the lingering fears.

I crashed because I lacked the fitness to consistently ride in the top 15 of the field. I was behind tiring riders whose fatigue led to wobbly riding and a huge pileup. More than anything, I told myself this because regardless of why a crash happens, it’s always reassuring to feel you have some control over what can seem like a random event. During the offseason, I trained with the intent to never race amidst the backmarkers in the Cat 3 field.

The season began with the early birds. I was apprehensive, but forced myself back into the game and became comfortable in the field again.

My season goals were straightforward:

-          Gain the fitness to ride easily in the Cat 3 field
-          Upgrade to Cat 2
-          Place in the top 10 of a P12 race

The year moved along and the fitness progressed. In the early season, I felt strong but tactically I screwed up a lot of finishes. At Menlo Park, I was positioned well for a top 10 in the P123 but was caught in the finishing crash. I worried that my strong fitness wouldn’t lead to good results. Eventually, things turned and the results followed.

This sport is such a confidence game. I got on a roll, but wasn’t any stronger relative to the competition than earlier in the year. The difference was that every time I pinned on a number, I believed I was the strongest rider in the race and that if I rode to my ability, a top 10 was a foregone conclusion. This confidence determined the choices I made in the hundreds of micro decisions presented during a race. These minor decisions over the course of a race added up to me being better positioned for the end game.

The upgrade came and I joined the P12 field. The races were harder and longer but they were bearable and I knew that a top 10 was in the cards before the season closed out.

Then an innocuous thing called a honeymoon intervened. We spent a phenomenal two weeks eating our way through the south of France. What initially seemed like a perfect break turned into a complete de-training.

On the return, I intended to train back into race fitness. But on the advice of a teammate, I hired a coach and we decided that the best course of action would be to prepare for the 2010 season. Out went the intensity, in came the endurance and tempo miles (and miles) and on rushed the endless string of DNF’s!! In the end, I think that not pressing to peak again is going to pay off much better in the future.

So the season ended with a seemingly discouraging finishing stretch. But I’m ecstatic with the year and have never been more excited by the prospects for the coming season. I’ve got two new teammates in the P12 field and a real training plan that will drive real improvement. The biggest challenge between now and 2010 is keeping the music on the iPod fresh as I rack up the miles.

Last year I finished the season as a backmarker and there was nowhere to go but up, will 2010 play out the same way??

Mark is ok

Our friend and teammate Mark was involved in a crash at the port last night. I’m very happy to report that Mark is doing alright. He’s got some cuts and bruises and a broken nose but is otherwise ok.

Want to thank all of our BBC teammates who took great care of Mark helping him through this ordeal. Once again you’ve displayed your quality during a tough situation!

BBC Crit this Sunday

Come join the fun this Sunday, July, 19th: Registration link