THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RACING FOR THE WIN AND RACING FOR VICTORY
I HAD ONE PLAN TODAY, victory. Friday, I winged it on the time trial. Yesterday, I raced to win. Today, I went for the victory...
... which is unlike winning.
In fact, for me, it's a completely different mentality.
Winning is about hedging and managing and strategy and doing what it takes and nothing more...
... to win.
That's nice, but nowhere near as satisfactory as the feeling of knowing there was nothing more to give, vanquishing my fears of losing, risking everything...
... this is victory, regardless of the outcome.
I woke up with this mental image: a greased pig, wreaking havoc and uncontainable.
Can't image a better vision.
Of course, it's easy to feel that way after a great night of sleep in an outstanding hotel...
... before the first hard stomp on the pedals.
(Surfergirl turned in my points to stay at the Lowes, and why not?)
My warm up was spot on this time.
1 hour.
45 minutes easy on the pedals.
15 bringing the heart rate up and stoking the fires.
For some reason, I lined up at the back of the pack even though I predicted it would start out hard. Heck, I even thought about the same thing before hatching my plan to go on the 7th lap.
So, I got to spend that first mile or so chasing and hustling my lycra up to the front.
For 5 laps I went with every attack, or let it go and bridged up, or pushed on when things slowed down. We needed to suffer, and make the teams work, and tire out the sprinters.
During that time, I was able to ferret out who could handle their bike in the turns, who's wheel was good to follow and who had something left to give on the day.
My plan, hatched the night before was to go for it on the last climb of the 6th lap, rail the turn at the bottom and keep on going.
It almost worked.
What happened was just as good, if not better.
The teams were sprinting for the bonus seconds on lap 6, completely stretched out the field, got their seconds, then shut down the pace...
... I sailed on by, and kept going.
Then Gerry, who smoked us in the tt, passed me like I was standing still.
I looked back.
I had a good gap.
Gerry was pulling away.
I buried myself to catch up...
... and he eased up a bit.
Thanks for waiting, give me a minute to recover.
He gave me 3 minutes, to the top of the climb.
As I'm pulling through, I look back and see a white jersey.
Dang.
They caught us.
Nope.
It's yesterday's hero Gary.
I can't believe he made it across the gap. We have a good 15 seconds and now we are rolling and rotating.
It's on.
We are smooth, and committed.
Greased pigs, on the loose.
Into the bell lap, we have nearly 30 seconds. That 7th lap was the fastest of the day for me.
Gary is gassed.
Hang on bro, recover.
Gerry, Gary is struggling.
We couldn't wait, but it was cool if he skipped a few pulls. It was too much. Gerry is such a powerhouse uphill, it's just a battle staying on his wheel.
With 2k to go, we still had 20 seconds.
We started the mile or so downhill to the last turn.
This is where we would lose a lot of time. The bunch was anxious to pull us back, some wanted to hang onto their GC positions, some wanted to win the stage...
... they'd have to wait another day.
300 meters to go.
It's a drag race for the line.
Today was that rare instance, where a victory comes with a win.
Insights:
This was the first race in quite a while where I have felt really good, didn't battle any cramps, and had excellent energy.
- Great sleep
- Arrived 2 hours early
- Proper 1 hour warm up
- Consumed 600 calories, 400/hour
Those little details probably made the difference. But, who knows? The older I get, the more difficult it is to predict good days on the bike.
Marco Colbert, with a lot of great people from the city and volunteers, has rescued the Tucson Bicycle Classic. USAC, had a really pro and friendly staff, which I found to be very refreshing. If you are looking for a helluva fun weekend of racing, in the beautiful winter desert...
... get your buns out here next year.
https://pedalindustries.com/pages/raceday-ready-2023-ala-todd
Victories start way before the gun goes off.
Are you up for the challenge?
https://pedalindustries.com/pages/raceday-ready-2023-ala-todd
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163ish
8ish hrs Sleep
0 RaceDay Ready Strength Circuit
40 minutes recovery
20 minutes reading + Journaling
https://www.strava.com/athletes/10248