You thought I wasn't gonna sneak any more BCBR photos in here? Really?!
While I am still no Jedi master, my third goal for 2013 is one I set fifteen months ago. Yep, you read it right - fifteen months not fifteen minutes ago. That makes it my longest goal ever by a long way. Although, I admit, there was some freestyling involved. A matter of days after declaring I'd never ever consider racing solo for 24 hours, I was setting a goal for the World 24 Hour Solo Championships in Canberra. My justification was predominantly based on a geographic argument rather the consideration of what is involved in pedalling in circles (race organisers call them laps to make it sound better) for an inordinate amount of time. The reasoning went like this - it's a major event just across the Tasman, it would be rude not to go.
The moment of realisation that there is more pedalling to do after more than 23 hours of pedalling
Time has flown by since and here we are with less than three months to go until the big day. The upside of goal setting is it gives you focus. The downside of goal setting is it gives you focus. So, here's the you can't have your cake and eat it bit...
Last year, I raced a lot of cyclocross. Like, a real big lot. In fact, almost every weekend from May to August. It was awesome. It taught me heaps about bike handling, making it hurt, racing with the boys, wearing skinsuits and some 'cross specific on the bike off the bike hoppity hop over barriers stuff. It was as new an experience for me as it was for New Zealand. It was such a cool time with a cool bunch of people that I was a little sad when winter came to an end.
On the seventh day, she rode. Every single one!
With a huge endurance goal looming, comes the self realisation that solely smashing yourself to bits for 50 minutes might not be sufficient when it comes to the crunch in October*. Unless, your game plan is to go out in a blaze of glory after a scorchingly hot opening lap after performing a sweet 'cross remount off the Le Mans start. I'm keen to hang in there a bit longer than that. But still do the sweet remount.
So, this winter I will be doing a bit less 'cross racing. I'm still gonna enjoy a whole heap of racing on the doorstep (after all, the mighty Hutt does offer the muddiest CX series there is) and some of it will be week in week out but my travel further afield will be much less. Fear not, I am sure this will change in 2014. This is just a short term gotta meet that goal I set fifteen months ago thing. It will also have the fringe benefit of helping the bank balance before my second overseas racing adventure of the year.
I'm stoked to see a formal official proper National CX Championships on the calendar this winter. While I can wholeheartedly sympathise with those who prefer to just get up in the morning and race a bike round a park as fast as possible without worrying about reading the tome that is the UCI rule book while warming up on rollers looking serious beforehand, it is super cool to have a formal official proper National CX Champion's jersey up for grabs at the pointy end of the field. And I'm sure the guy and gal that get to wear them will do heaps to promote cyclocross here as well as represent New Zealand on far shores. It'll be me again when the goal setting thingy says so.
And, now that I'm all enthused by this goal setting stuff, I thought I'd share a bit of the countdown to the big day on my blog. I've always been rubbish at keeping a diary but I hope that the pressure of posting sequential week by week blog posts called "Week #" and making them look all neat and tidy and in order will help spur me to stick with it. Expect less Princess Diaries, more Toughen Up Princess Diaries. Week 10 kicks off next week. As long as I counted the weeks on the calendar correctly, that is.
*my coach has known this fact forever
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