Learning to Race

I've been entering MTB half-marathons for about 10 years now. When I started I was stoked to finish in the top 50%, but today I was stoked to finish in the top 4%. I've certainly stepped up the training over the years, but it's only the last 9 months that I feel like I've started learning how to "race". The real change started when I actually got some coaching - just one weekend (the Fling training weekend with Anthony Shippard and Kyle Ward), but for me it was the start of understanding racing vs riding in a race. Today I felt like I raced.

Just prior to the start Anthony kindly offered a last minute tip: "Start in the first wave around the 3rd row and make sure there are no more than about 15 people in front of you when you hit the big climb". "Got it" I replied, wondering how on earth I was going to maintain that sort of pace and still have the legs to get up the climb. I actually started around the 5th row and in about 30th position or so, and found that the group was so tightly packed there was no way through. In fact I lost a few places through not being aggressive enough. I was surprised this group stayed together for the next 15 mins or so - I could see a couple of attacks happening off the front, but I was only about 100m back from the front of the pack. Speed was pretty solid, averaging over 30k along this section, but I was keeping up fine. We hit the big climb and, as expected the pack in front of me came to a grinding halt and started pushing their bikes, while the guys up front rode on. In the 2 previous Convicts I've done I've never walked any of this climb, but today there was no way through, so I had to walk the first third. Pretty annoyed with myself for not following Ant's advice, but I pushed on pretty briskly and passed a few people, then jumped on the bike and passed a couple more.

Got to the top and had a minute or so slow pedalling/ recovery, ready for the next section. I caught up with Kylie Webb (2013 female winner) and asked her if she was winning - she said another girl was up the road a bit, so she was in 2nd. I don't really know Kylie but often end up chatting with her during races. I offered her some words of encouragement then got on with it.

I was on a recon ride along this section of trail with Anthony a few weeks ago, and his words of advice suddenly came back to me: "at this point in the race you'll be riding with the people you're going to finish with. So don't try to drop them - work with them". Now I have very limited experience working with other riders, so I was relieved when another guy started organising 4 of us into a group. We encouraged Kylie to join us, and off we went taking turns at the front. Kylie got dropped, then after a few k's the group basically fell apart, so I was back to solo.

For the next 15k's or so I kept swapping positions with the same 5 or 6 guys - the general pattern was I would catch them on the climbs and get passed on the descents. Either I need to work on my descending or get a dually...

At one point a female rider caught up for a short time - not Kylie, so she had dropped back to third.

I felt pretty good on the climbs, and as I caught riders I felt like they were suffering more than me. No one seemed very interested in working together at all - so I just sat on wheels where I could, saving my energy as much as possible. I was working hard but feeling ok.

Just before the final descent I caught up with a very fit looking guy who I decided must be a roadie... He pulled aside to let me lead the way down. Got to the bottom in one piece and hit the final dirt road section. Now I always end up alone on this road battling a headwind, so I was determined not to make that mistake this year. 100m ahead were two guys working together, and 50m behind was the roadie. I slowed a bit, he soon caught up and took the first turn. His very natural use of hand signals confirmed my suspicion about his "dark side" pedigree, and I was very grateful that at least one of us knew how to do this "working together" thing. I cast my mind back to the Fling training weekend, and Anthony's coaching - don't go too hard on the front, keep together, stay on the back wheel, and something about an elbow flick. To my surprise it worked like clockwork, and before long we caught the two guys in front. Now 2 became 4, and we were really motoring.

With about 1km to go we passed a couple of very spent-looking solo riders, then caught the leading female, who jumped on our train. Now everyone was getting twitchy, starting to work out their final moves... We rounded the final corner and sprinted to the line, finishing basically 4 abreast, with the fastest female right behind us. Hand shakes all round and speculation about whether we were under 2 hours...

So I really felt like I had "raced" today, pushed myself and hit my goals - to go under 2 hours, and finish top 10 in my age group.

A great atmosphere at the finish line, a very refreshing beer, and the end of another fantastic race. Can't wait for the next race, where I will have that little bit more confidence to go harder off the start line...