If the race in UAE was an example how it looks like if
everything is perfect, this race was complete opposite! Nothing was as it
should be L
Mesaieed based group of Filipino mountain bikers
organized their first race on their race track which they promised to be very
diverse. Hard ground, soft sand, straight bits, sharp curves, bumps, mud and
finally water crossings…everything was there on the 3k loop. And especially the
50m long water channel became something crazy, because it was heavily raining
just few days before the race!
This race showed me the dark side and I really realized how
the mental part of the race is important. I experienced in the Desert Stinker
race how you are able to push your body if you really want. Here I realized
that you cannot push yourself if you actually don’t really want to, because already
from Thursday evening I had a mindset that was putting this race more like a
training ride and not giving it much importance. There was no hunger for
victory. Over-racing maybe! Additionally when getting up after 5 hours of sleep
I felt very tired. And it was not only from the lack of sleep. I was not fully
recovered from the Desert race. Midweek short ride should have warned me. I
felt weak like never!
And more disturbances were coming. Wind forecast
was looking great and after a long time not kiting I was really looking forward
to fly again. Jitka was waiting for me at home to pick her up and she was eager
also. Basically put, my mind was everywhere else just at the race!
I was trying out my new bike shoes, but unfortunately they
were feeling a bit too big, making them loose and harder to unclip from pedals.
This actually resulted that I almost felt down with the bike when stopping. I
didn’t, but I hit my knee cap super painfully when jerking the shoe loose! This
was two minutes before my starting time and I was pissed! I was pissed also
about my bike, which was getting heavy, old, rusty and just not going well. I
was blaming it since the training ride and was almost determined to sell
it and buy new over Christmas. Nothing was in place. My mind, my body nor my
equipment! The race was doomed to failure.
This was obvious right at the end of the first lap when
Jonathan caught me from behind and passed me. It was time trial race and he was
starting 30 second behind. I couldn’t keep up and was feeling heavy and
sluggish. I saw him in front for another lap and then he was gone! And gone was
the last bit of my mood. I was cruising, heart rate low, legs from stone and just
looking forward to finish those ten laps and go home. Nothing could change it!
In lap three I started to feel pain in my toes again
signaling that buying new bigger shoes was no help! In lap five my cleat got
loose and I spent two minutes tightening it. Then Ondrej passed me like I was
just standing by! This was his race J The sudden end of my misery came just at the
beginning of seventh lap when I hit a rock so hard that my rear spoke broke! I
knew that sound from the last MTB race when this happened to Jonathan just in
front of me, so I stopped and briefly thought about just continuing, hoping
that no more spokes give away. But that defeatist voice inside me commanded
clearly: “Give up man! You cannot go like this. You can go home now. You have a
reason to DNF!” It was just too strong and I walked to the finish to retire
from the race.
It was like a kind of mercy and I was grateful for it.
Immediately when I started to drive back when everyone else was still on the
track, I felt relieved and was throwing this unpleasant experience behind
feeling the wind on the beach already.
But although this experience was unpleasant, it taught me a
lot and made me certain about what I finally realized in the UAE desert. Racing
is just more than fitness and it is more complex than I thought. I see how the
simple fact that you are looking forward to a race can make things different.
And when you are looking forward to a race? When you are strong, recovered,
confident, happy, hungry and you want to have fun! If you think about a race
like a job, obligation or something you just should do, it is a highway to
failure and disappointment.
So I just have to be more careful what I sign up for
and there will not have to be another story like this J
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