Well the plan was "simples" do less miles but more intensity and try and peak two or three times in the season and have two week long rests in between to 'cool it' and keep me focused. Hmmmmm! Well my early season was on target after the coldest winter I'd experienced but only hit the deck once (Ouch!) I had a 20:40 for 10 miles and 52:18 for 25 miles by mid April and I was on track for my best season.
I had a few niggles, a cold for the Zenith 2 Day my only road event of the year but doing the UK and European track takes alot of preparation and you can easily knacker yourself on the road getting over tired or an accident, I had a few mechanicals which did not point to anything in particular but when you wait all week to race and it doesn't come off you always 'feel' it more
I rode the '10', '25', '50' & '100' Championships, they were not all target events so I didn't get the results that I imagined I would, I just told myself they were part of a bigger plan, the shorter ones I guess are not for me but they were glorious events on sweltering days and you feel part of the day if you ride, which I'm glad I did but maybe I should have got my mental preparation right as well. The longer distances are more my thing so I was disappointed to crash in the '50' two days back from a break but still post a good time. So then to have everything perfect for the '100' and not post a good time at all I was a bit puzzled
I had fallen off and banged my head the week before warming up for the British Masters track in Newport, this had been my first big target of the year and although I posted a PB in the pursuit 24 hours later I felt terrible and did nothing in the points race (I sat out the scratch race with a large bandage on my head!) the doctors warning "Don't do anything stressful for 48 hours" as he pumped a tetanus in my arm. So was my poor performance in the Nat '100' just a delayed reaction? I probably paid the price for wanting a result when I should have rested but when you make it a target it's tough to let go.
Going to pot in the Nat '100' followed on from the same in the BDCA '100' a few weeks before so I'd ridden 3 x '100's (4:02:20 in the Anfield a good result but again for training) and got nothing out of them which meant I had to put pressure on myself to 'perform' later in the year.
The BBAR is a season long competition but it still means you have to 'perform' on the chosen day, I'd taken a week off without the bike mid June as a reward for early season efforts and to be fresh for the British Masters but after the BDCA 'missfire' and with no BBAR result the 'break' felt unjustified and with the National '50' disappointment as soon as I got back I think I was beginning to loose my focus (or maybe I was just too focused?) doubts began to creep in.
The National '100' should have been the TT'ing peak of the first half of the season as well as prep for the 12 hour which was on the same roads but after a good start I just rode the latter part like it was training and got the result to match, I could not quite take it in, doing a similar time to that of the Anfield on a day when the winner was within a whisker of Competition record. I had to have some time off so Fiona and I drove to the South of France (with bike this time) to watch some racing (Le tour) I had the European Masters the week after I got back and despite long slow miles in the Alps I took another second off my pursuit time in the qualifying but got DQ'ed and missed a medal in the points race by the smallest margin but at least I defended my title with a good ride and was 'in at the kill' so I knew I was on form, a bit late for a fast '100' but I had the Breckland 12 hour coming up and I knew I could do a good ride with average weather and no mishaps.
On the day of the Breckland it all feels like a dream (now) wafting along the A11 at 24mph for 200 miles (no matter I had to get off twice in the first 10 miles) I was leading by 5 minutes but more importantly I was 12 minutes up on PB and heading for over 280 miles (285 even!) when the race came to a premature end. I was in a bit of a daze for a week or so but I had to snap out of it PDQ as I had the Swift '100' to redeem my BBAR. It was a terrible day but I held it together to pull out a 3:47:39 nearly 2 min outside my best but 4th on the day and showed me I could do it on the day when necessary. I had to give myself a chance of a result in the final 12 hour of the season but I could not imagine going all that way without a decent '100' back it up
As it turned out neither my mind or body could master the Kent lanes or the late season weather (which was windy again!), I was just too un-prepared and fragile to get better than the 260 miles I recorded, which felt like a crushing disappointment at the time but probably all I had in me on the day. That I failed to record a faster late season '50' (not for want of trying) than the 1:50:38 I recorded just two days after the Masters Points and that my '10' & '25' were still those that I'd done by mid April says all you need to know about my season. I did not win an open event or record a personnel best for the first time since my comeback, I've had twice as many rest days (Av. two per week) but in the end the weight of expectation just got the better of me, I let my result become the focus of my ride, I looked too often at my split times and was disappointed by what I saw and that fed into my perception that I was 'on a bad ride' and if you tell yourself its bad then your legs feel the pain, and if you feel the pain then you don't enjoy it, it's always going to hurt but you need to tell yourself that the pain is worth it, the pain is necessary but like all belief its not rational to measure the physical reality against the perception of the goal, the mind had the ability to 'tune out' to stimulus (if you don't bring it to your attention - Some riders tape over their computers!) its an unlearned response all you have to do is to ignore the signs without being ignorant of the responses "Simples!"
What does that mean for me? Well I have to think a bit more about what I want to get out of my racing, sure fast times and good results are great but there is always alot to sacrifice to get there and I don't think I want another season like this one but you only learn by 'doing it' and learning..............such is life
Tally of events of the year - 45
3 x Hilly
2 x 2 Up
3 x Crits
2 x RR + 1 x Prologue
10 x 10
8 x 25
6 x 50
4 x 100
1 & 2/3 x 12
4 x Track
2 x Pursuit
Total 1888 miles
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