Author: audreycycling

Embrace the Team

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getting the trailer loaded

getting the trailer loaded

Racing at Cross After Dark was not a spur of the moment decision. Extensive thought and planning, mostly by the TBBCX/GHETO head honcho Marty, went into the process. Getting 11 racers down to LA on the weekend after Thanksgiving is no easy feat. But with the help of everyone it was possible. Every aspect of the weekend was enhanced by the presence of great teammates and support. It even started in the van on the ride down! CD selection was completely democratic, with everyone in the van getting the opportunity to choose from one of the giant CD jackets. I had forgotten how much fun it is to flip the pages of those books and physically touch and look at the CDs. A whole different feel than scrolling through an iphone. In case you’re curious, I chose A Tribe Called Quest. The planning and teamwork continued into the night, while the crew created a schedule of who was racing when and who would be in the pit supporting them. Yes, the schedule was on a paper bag and beer carton. But it was still a schedule.

Saturday morning we rolled out to the venue to get set up. Racers didn’t start until late afternoon, so there was plenty of time to pre-ride. Having Jared and Emily there to talk lines, speed and momentum was so helpful. We went over the double stair section several times trying to figure out the best way to get through. Emily ran it and she was so smooth, we all decided that was the way to go, even if we looked like gorillas trying to get through the obstacle. Everyone talked tire pressure, conditions, even down to what to wear to be most comfortable. It really made me appreciate. As the start of my race neared, I had more than the usual jitters. It was CXLA after all and I committed a lot of time and effort to be there. I started worrying about pit wheels, tire pressure, jersey pinning and a thousand other things. Then my team stepped in and said relax. Rocky reminded me that I was here to have fun. That was some of the best advice I’ve ever received. The guys took over my pit wheels and made sure the pressure was perfect. I continued my warm-up and was uncomfortable with my tire pressure. I wasn’t used to running so low and the feeling was making me nervous. The guys took over and put it at 27-28 psi front and back. I’ve been running tubeless all season, but have been too inexperienced to find the right pressure. The jitters subsided. With a supportive and knowledgeable team backing me I was good to go.

My race went well. From the start I battled a local racer for first and second. I would try to get away from her, but she would latch back on. Then I would let her pull for a while so I could take a breather. We were pretty evenly matched. The second to last lap, she got away from me. Somehow she gapped me over the double stair section. She was about 40 feet ahead for the rest of the lap. Ick.

Then I decided she was not going to beat me.

I dug deep and found more. I pedaled through the corners and sprinted over the barriers. I closed the gap. But the work wasn’t done. I knew that I had to go into the double stairs ahead of her or she would gap me again. There was a long straight before and I came around her and held position over the stairs. The GHETO hecklers were going nuts! It was awesome. I held position through the off-camber s-turn and went into the finish section in first. She was a bigger girl, so I knew she would have a good sprint. I gunned it. Used everything left. I knew if I was going fast enough she wouldn’t be able to come around me. It was awesome, I won in a sprint finish! That never happens.

As soon as I got off the course I was mobbed by my awesome teammates. Hugs and congrats and happiness. And it was all made possible by the great people supporting me. Rocky and Jeff even hung around for the podium to make sure my W was over-shared.

post race huddle with the gheto boys

post race huddle with the gheto boys

The rest of the evening I did my best to support everyone else. I got Emily some water 😉 and helped Jared pin his numbers. Tried to talk him out of his jitters. Even with my mediocre mechanic skills, I helped get a pit bike ready. I knew how instrumental the team had been for me and wanted to return the favor.

Watching the women race under the lights was the most exciting event of the weekend. They were so fast! Emily was awesome to watch. She was racing smart, sitting on the girl ahead of her and waiting to out sprint her at the line. I got to heckle Katerina Nash and encourage the three chasers to keep trying at least. It was so awesome. The men’s race was action-packed, and I got to watch with my bestie Jen who had some exciting news of her own. As we were watching the longer stair section Jared came in and tripped on the stairs. He went down and looked really discouraged. As he slowly got up he headed for the tape and looked like he was about to exit the course! I was screaming at him, no! go and get the pit bike! dont give up! He looked like he considered it, but instead just straightened his bars and kept racing. Wow. That showed grit. He ended up placing 22nd.

Sunday was another awesome day of teamwork and racing. I decided to try the women’s A field to see if I could push myself to race better with different competition. We started with the 35+ field, so there were more of us on course. Immediately one of the women got away and was gone. No point in chasing, or so I thought. Then I went back and forth with a master for a while, but I decided to let her get away, since I figured she wasn’t in my race anyway. The course was the same, but my legs were not. I managed to hold position and ended up second for the As. However, we were scored for cash with the masters, which I had neglected to pay attention to. I was fifth out of the entire group and I knew exactly when I had let the two women in front of me get away. I was disappointed in my racing. Not because I cared about the cash, but because I had let people get away from me. I thought over the whole race and made some decisions for next time. Mainly, it does not matter what category someone is in. I am never going to just let people get away from me because I think that my placing is secure. The whole reason I wanted to race As was to get better and no one gets better by not trying.

The UCI races were awesome and I got to heckle with Jen. So fun. Then it was time to pack up and go home. Thankfully, Nick and Chris were absolute life-savers and drove the whole way home. Rocky kept them awake with her jokes and general awesomeness. Once again I was reminded how great my team was and how lucky I was to have the support of such great people around me.

I had left on Friday morning before sunrise and would end up getting home at sunrise on Monday morning. Whew! What a weekend.

Thanks for reading!

Check out these other awesome recaps of the race:

Listen to Emily

Watch Tye’s Video

Read SoCal Cross

Don’t Forget NorCal Cycling News

LA tease

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Arrived in LA after an eventful caravan down the state, but, thanks to our awesome drivers, we made it in one piece. Great music selection too. The course is at an interesting and educational venue, LA State Historic Park It was too late to pre-ride, so we just checked out the tough course. My first time on a UCI course and it is big,fast and technical. #socalcross has put together a great event. We also picked a perfect spot for the #ghetocx compound, which includes turntables and megaphones. Awesome. Right next to us the course goes through a nasty little off-camber s-turn that will challenge my “do not crash” resolution. But my team is experienced and helpful. Emily showed us a fast line through a potentially muddy corner and Jared reminded me that smooth is fast. I know I’ll be starting in the back of the grid, so I just have to stay smooth and not panic.
Then we had a great dinner (which may or may not have included some gheto marketing practices) and some team planning back at the hotel.
Gonna be a sweet weekend, stay tuned for details.

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Deliberate Practice

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Last weekend’s team camp put me way out of my comfort zone. Camp began with meeting my twelve new teammates. Though everyone was very welcoming, I already felt out of my element. Some people shine at meeting new people and thrive in that environment. However, I feel shy and withdrawn in when asked to put myself out there. Just being around all those new people got my palms sweaty and my heart racing. This was nothing compared to what was to come on the bike in the next 36 hours.

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doorway of Kyoto hostel

 

We headed over to a local corporate park to practice drills and skills. As a ‘cross racer, I went into this with the expectation that the exercises would be easy, because my handling skills are reasonable and I am used to feeling the bike slide around. I was so wrong. While I can’t divulge our team secrets, it is enough to say that I was challenged. Almost immediately after we started, I began to feel nervous and slightly sick to my stomach. My thumb is still swollen and sore from cross and I thought that was the problem. I didn’t realize until later that I was feeling ill because I was being pushed mentally. There were women riding who were completing the drills with ease and excelling where I had failed. There was the chance that I could fall, which even at a slow speed was very scary after hitting the ground so hard last weekend. The worst part was that skills I thought I was good at I had to accept that I needed to improve. At one point, we were practicing bunny-hopping over rubber chickens, which is hilarious because they squeak when you land on them, and I couldn’t even do that. I was falling apart!

Then we started a drill where three of us were loosely joined together and had to negotiate a course with several turns. I was paired with my long-time bestie and another skilled, experienced cyclist. The first time we went through the course, I took one turn too wide and lost the connection. My teammates encouraged me and gave me some helpful advice and we tried again. This time, my turn was smooth and I stayed next to them the entire time. Success!! At this point I started to realize that I was benefiting and improving from being pushed. I remembered the concept of deliberate practice put forth by Geoff Colvin in his book Talent is Overrated. (read my take on it at the link on the bottom)

I had been engaging in deliberate practice! It wasn’t fun and it was very taxing. I was mentally exhausted for the rest of the day, and we had another ride scheduled in the afternoon. Loosing the connection to my teammates was the immediate feedback so important to improving. Have the ladies gently correct and assist me were the teachers passing on knowledge and observing me in ways I can’t see myself. It hurt, but it was good for me.

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The rest of the weekend continued to push me out of my zone. Which is another way of saying that I was learning. For the entire weekend, I was in my cycling zone of proximal development. Vygotsky, a familiar name in the education field, proposes that learning occurs in this zone, when attempting tasks that can only be accompanied with the help of an experienced teacher. This weekend showed me that I have plenty of room to grow and the support to get there. Thanks everyone.

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Why falling on your butt makes you better

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IMG_0936 This morning it was cold. Very cold. My garmin said 53 degrees. Which, for a Californian, is verging on Arctic temperatures. Last night it was raining. And dark. Both days I rode my bike. Part of the reason I was able to find this motivation is that I recently finished reading Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. This book has reinvigorated my drive to be a successful cyclist. While mainly directed toward business employees and managers, his concepts and ideas are applicable in pursuit of any passion. He supports his argument through research on the concept of deliberate practice. According to Colvin, deliberate practice is designed specifically to improve performance, is endlessly repeatable, highly demanding and not very much fun. This is much different from putting your headphones in and spinning down the bike path without regard for cadence, HR, power or anything else. Though he allows that enjoyment definitely helps to improve motivation. People that desire to be the absolute best in their field, world class even, engage in deliberate practice for hours. Colvin supports Malcolm Gladwell’s theory, proposed in Outliers, that 10,000 hours of practice are needed to achieve greatness in any field. I once did the calculations on this, and in order to ride 10,000 hours, averaging 10 hours a week (just to make the math easy 😉 I would become a very good cyclist by the time I am around 50 years old. So watch out masters categories. I’m getting ready now.
I chose to write about this book because of the final chapter. To conclude his book, Colvin asks, What do you want? And what do you really believe?
What do you want? And what are you willing to give up in order to achieve that goal? The title of this post is taken from an example in the book of a gold medalist ice skater. Her goal, her all-consuming passion, was to win a gold medal. And in order to reach that goal she had to fall. Many, many times. On ice that is not forgiving. She had to wake up early, skip going out with her friends, skip the pizza, skip the beer, and engage in thousands of hours of deliberate practice.  Colvin is clear, the path of deliberate practice is fraught with difficulties. Failed relationships, lonely evenings, isolation. Somehow, great performers find the motivation to persevere.
What do you really believe? Do you think that because you were not born with an innate gift, you cannot excel? After reading Colvin’s book, be ready to examine that belief.
So, while the book emphasizes world class performers that started their practice before the age of five, the ideas and lessons can be applied to any pursuit at any age. I found it inspiring. Though I may not be an exceptional cyclist for many more years, every time that I get on the bike I am pursuing my goal.