The Secondary Schools Race Series is something I really wanted to do well in this year. I was sure that for that for this race I could achieve outstanding performance after the not so great result in the previous one. I was fit, relaxed and feeling good.
With all my thoughts on the race, I knew Riverhead wouldn't be easy, but I was well prepped. Arriving at the event, it was obvious a lot of competitors from the previous race had been spooked by the thought of Riverhead (particularly after recent rain) and the numbers were well down.
As I was about to go for a warm up, I caught up with some fellow riders/ friends who were fully coated in mud - not good. Now I started to get nervous about the race.
Race briefing finished and as everyone headed to the start, I could see a lot of serious faces. My confidence started to go down as I realised that this was going to be alot tougher than I had imagined. First the seniors raced off, with my group, the intermediate boys next. Even with a furious race start I seemed to be in the top 5 or 6 racers - I was feeling great.
After about 30 minutes into the race I was coated in mud from top to bottom. Not only did my bike (and everyone elses) sound like they were about to snap, but it was twice the weight!
I was able to keep up the pace up the top riders heading into the 2nd lap but was really starting to hurt. I had dropped about 20 seconds behind 6th and my speed felt as though it was getting slower. Just to make it worse, I hit a huge mud puddle which sprayed mud into my eye and caused me to be unable to see for a few seconds. My confidence had left me, the mind games began - could this race get any worse?
By the time I reached the last lap my eye sight was getting worse, I was making poor decisions on lines and my speed was now really slow. I must have dropped about 3 places and my mental toughness had deserted me.
Sadly I was just glad to even finish.
Both me and my bike would need the MEGA clean (what a fun job to do after you've freezed your @$$ off and have no energy left).
After prize giving as we headed home, surprisingly I was not disappointed in my race because I had actually finished and survived the race. Yes, I might not have gotten the placing I wanted but the race was extremely hard in those conditions, and even with eveything that had happened, I held my place again some really good older riders.
Yet another huge learning step before next year. Bring on race three!
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