2009 Season Wrap Up

This season I’ve done fourteen mountain bike races, six more than last year, and in doing so, I’ve learned a bit more about racing. I raced five weekends in a row, doing eight races in that time. Doing so many races has its pros and cons.

On the plus side, my pre race routine got dialed in pretty well. I knew exactly what to bring, how much time I needed to warm up, and how to pace myself at race pace. I also figured out when, how much and what to eat before a race. The thing that was really great about racing back to back weekends was that I remembered what worked and what didn’t work at the previous race and I was able to use that knowledge in the next race. Recovering from races properly became a necessity and I became better at my post race routine as well. I started to see familiar faces weekend after weekend, and because of that I became friends with some new racers.

The major downside to racing so often is fairly obvious; you get tired physically and mentally. My last race in the five week period was the US Kenda Cup race at Windham, New York. I was hoping to do well at the race and I was excited about the course, but in a way, I just wanted to get it over with. After that race, I didn’t have any energy or motivation to ride my bike regularly for a few weeks. I did significantly fewer group rides on the weekends (the whole season) and I still haven’t ridden some trails that would normally have ridden countless times by autumn. Also, bike racing is rough on the bike and keeping it working costs money.

One cool tidbit that came out of all the racing was winning the Root 66 series for 12-18 Cat.1. In a way, it is silly for me to get too excited about this because there were only about 6 junior Cat.1’s who I raced against all year (in that series) and Ben Chase beat me in every race that he showed up to. I only won the series because I did more races than him. I do feel like I put in an honest effort each race and for the most part, if my bike worked, my times were half decent for my first full season as a Cat.1.

I can’t exactly fit twelve (two already reported on) race reports in one post, but I can say that they all went fairly well. Highlights include flatting a minute into the Root 66 Mount Snow race because I forgot to put a rim strip in a new wheel. A potentially wasted weekend was saved when Jill of Root 66 let me find a rim strip and re-enter the race. At the US Kenda Cups at Mount Snow and Windham, I got to race against other juniors from all over the US, Canada and New Zealand. I got destroyed by most of them and rightfully so since some of them qualified for the World Championships in Australia. I tried Super D at Mount Snow and Windham. It was actually much more difficult than I thought. I hadn’t gone that anaerobic for a while. And, at the Landmine Classic, the GT Golden Series Final, there were guns and cheerleaders at the start line.

Thanks to Fred, Greg, Lori, Thom and my parents for helping me get to the races. Also, this year Colt Mcelwaine started up Cyclingdirt.org, currently THE BEST site for local, national and global mountain bike and cyclocross media coverage. Seriously, check the site out. He interviewed me in a video, but I sounded like an idiot because it was 90 degrees outside and I had just done the most physically demanding race of the year, so my brain wasn’t working too well.

Nathaniel

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