It’s time to pack. It’s time to let all last month’s efforts sink in. It’s time to get on a plane, to go to Europe and face the music. It’s time to believe. It’s time to race.
I have worked extremely hard the last month, on my swimming, my riding, my running. I have been blessed to have had extra help from some very experienced people to help me improve. Vlad from Vladswim has helped me turn something I used to dislike into something I have started to really enjoy. The early mornings in the pool have become my favourite part of the day. I have found calm in the water.
although my favourite sessions of the day, I look a bit like this in the water
Elite mountain biker and ex pro triathlete Anthony Shippard together with Kyle Ward have helped me refocus, helped me find new barriers to push and helped me become a more skill full athlete. Which has added a huge amount of value to the building phase Matt Randall had prepared for me this far. The support from my team mates and the sponsors involved with Subaru-MarathonMTB has made my racing a whole lot easier and a lot more fun. I feel very lucky to have had these people surrounding me whilst so many changes were happening.
I had a month to prepare myself as best as I could without the emotional and physical stress of being an equine veterinarian, and I don’t think I left any stones unturned. In the time frame I had, and the circumstances I was presented with, this is it. The question whether I will be good enough in Europe is not really that relevant to me. I will race to the best of my ability with the training I have done. It will be a steppingstone, for me to find out how much work I will still have to do in order to succeed in future races. This trip will be a journey not a final destination.
Big thank you to Shimano as a the main sponsor of the race series
On Anthony’s advice I travelled with him and Kyle to Ourimbah to race the Rocky Trail Entertainment Shimano GP 4hrs MTB race last weekend as a final preparation before jumping on a plane on Wednesday. There is no better way than getting ready for a race by racing. So the plan was a training race, one lap hard, one lap easy and so on for 4 hours, during which I would work on all the skills I have been practicing.
The weather held up for us even though the forecast was awful and I was impressed with how well everything was organized and what a great atmosphere there was on arrival. The Rocky Trail Entertainment together with Shimano organise a 5 race series, The Shimano GP MTB series, which is a lap based race format where you can either race for 4 or 7hrs. The race in Ourimbah was round 3 of the series and had attracted a strong field of riders. I started to feel nervous and had to remind myself it was just a “training race”.
Rocky Trail Entertainment, organisers of a bunch of awesome race series
We rode out for a practice lap and the trails were in awesome condition, they felt dry and fast. There was a lot of fun to be had. The legs felt quite heavy after a two week hard training block but since I wasn’t really going to race for position I figured it didn’t really matter. I was looking forward to the day ahead. The boys took me to see a drop off where you could choose either the A or B line. The A line was significantly faster, but hell it was steep. With encouragement from the boys I faced my fears and threw myself (safely) down the chute, adrenaline filled my body and I was ready to race.
In the marathons I have been racing I have been working really hard on the start, it is often very fast and a necessity to master when racing for a place. I decided to line up a bit further back in this race as I didn’t feel I had it in me to start this race that hard. The congestion of riders associated with this choice made, meant I had to race the first lap easy. As soon as I got some space I picked up the pace and started to weave myself towards more freedom. The trails were awesome and I was really enjoying it. I rode lap 2 pretty hard and going through the feeding zone I heard words of encouragement coming from different directions. Lap 3 was supposed to be an easy lap. I thought about it for a second “this is a training race” I looked ahead, there were no other riders in sight and I suddenly felt like a race horse with free reign, I didn’t want to slow down, I wanted to keep riding strong, enjoying the single track to myself, my competitive side got the better of me and before I knew it I was on lap 6 still riding at my limit. There had been no easy laps. I got braver and braver riding the technical terrain including the chute and by lap 7 I was getting a descent amount of air. I think it was good thing this ended up being my last lap as I had run out of energy by then and bravery started to turn into stupidity, not the time to get injured I thought to myself.
My Bianchi Methanol FS felt perfect for the course with the fox shocks easily absorbing the rocky terrain and making up for my not so smooth riding at times. My brand new Shimano XTR cassette and chain rings worked like a treat, nothing better than riding a quiet bike through forestry trails. I felt the flow.
practicing my cornering
I finished my first lap race format event with a win in the women’s field by a whole lap. I was very happy with that result. Even though I didn’t execute my race plan very well it was a very beneficial day for me in terms of training. Over 4hrs of riding pure single track at a high pace is something I don’t often get to do. The lap format meant I could play with choosing different lines and figuring out which one felt smoother and faster. It was a great skills session for me and an awesome day out riding. Many thanks to Rocky Trail Entertainment and Shimano for organising such a great event, I am disappointed I won’t be able to race next round but I will definitely be back!!
Confidence is not one of my strong sides and winning this race was something I really needed in order to feel more prepared for my XTERRA races coming up in Europe. I can’t thank Anthony Shippard and Kyle Ward enough for helping me with my skills and helping me gain confidence on the bike, making me believe. Noticing improvement is such an awesome feeling. In the end it is not the body which will limit you; it is the grey stuff in between the ears.
“The greatest efforts in sports came when the mind is as still as a glass lake.” Timothy Gallwey
Photos: Outer Image Collective/www.outerimage.com.au
Vlad Swim : http://vladswim.com.au/
Matt Randall http://www.swimbikeruncoach.co.nz/
http://www.rockytrailentertainment.com/