National Series Nelson

Since the early races in January training had been going really well and my form was lifting nicely. I knew I had better legs than a month ago, but as you will read that doesnt neccessarily turn into better race results.

The course in Nelson was a condensed version of the National Champs held there two years ago, so I knew it well. Not a particularly demanding course, but difficult to make time up due to the meandering nature of the climbing.

The start didnt work out at all how I was hoping. I went from 4th wheel to about 12th or 13th in the blink of an eye as we approached the top of the road and had to shuffle into the line of riders as we negotiated the next 8min of singletrack without a single opportunity to make a pass.

I took some places as the course widened and finished the first lap in 8th, just under 1 minute behind the front of the race. I knew there was only one place to really make up time, and that was the first climb; 3 min on a gravel road.
I was feeling desperate to move forward so I pushed really hard to gain a much advantage as I could.  To a degree it worked; I moved all the way to 3rd place. This was where I should have been all along, trouble is I had used a lot of energy to get there, hense it was short lived.

Frustrated by how the day was panning out, I slowly lost that advantage and drifted back into 7th place. It was a prime example how important the start is in being able to maintain a constant effort throughout the race. I had raced hard, and felt strong, perhaps a little restraint in the early laps may have prevented the (brain) fade that occured in the last laps, but I wanted to feel as though I was in the race for at least a small portion rather spending the entire race limiting losses.

Photo:Debbie Retief

It is nice to process what happened and say ok, I know what went wrong. Each race has its unique challenges, and my 13 years of experience didnt stop me from letting a bit of panic take control. Ive been hitting my forehead with the base of my palm ever since, I know better than to react with fury on the pedals, a patient response would have been better.......