Monday, December 9, 2013

Racing Qatar – Wet and Dry in Mesaieed

          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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