Cycling Mojo

Form comes and goes, but it sure can be frustrating when it’s not there.  For most of this season of Tuesday Worlds, I haven’t been able to hang with the group.  I think I know why.

All along as I trained for RAAM earlier this year, I was working toward two conflicting goals: endurance and intensity.  I needed endurance for my portion of the total distance (1/4 of 3,000 miles = 750 miles), but I also needed to ride as hard as possible on each 30-minute leg I raced.  Ultimately, I focused more on endurance, which turned out to be the right call for RAAM.

After RAAM, I did some interval training to prepare for two late-season time trials (TTs).  On July 25 I raced in the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix TT in the women’s Cat 3-4 division.  I placed 2^nd, finishing behind a Cat 3.  It wasn’t close between the two of us, and my time was comparable to last year; I was satisfied.

My bigger race was a week later on August 1, the state TT championship.  The previous two years, I won the women’s Cat 4 state TT championship.  I’m still a Cat 4, but this year I decided to race in the women’s Cat 3 division.  I wanted to challenge myself, and I thought it would be pretty uncool to win the Cat 4 championship again.  (This year’s time would have, in fact, put me in 1^st place for Cat 4.)  USA Cycling rules allow cyclists to race TTs in a higher cat (which is actually a lower number – kind of confusing).  I think that’s because TTs don’t count toward your classification; only mass-start races (road races and crits) do.  Because I gave up mass-start racing after my serious crash a few years ago, I’ll never be able to cat up.  (My epitaph should be: Cat 4 4-ever.)  Racing Cat 3 at this year’s state TT championship went as well as I could have hoped for.  I was on the podium (3^rd), and I improved my time on the course by almost 30 seconds over last year.  Not bad, particularly considering that I didn’t do nearly as much TT training this year as usual.

Although I’ve given up mass-start races, I feel like I still get a good taste of road racing because of Tuesday Worlds.  They are intense, with breakaways, bridging gaps, and (too often for me) getting dropped.  Given that I’ve been performing well in endurance cycling and time trialing, it’s not so surprising that I haven’t been able to keep up most weeks at Tuesday Worlds.  These really are three different types of cycling, and it’s unrealistic to expect to be at the top of my game on all of them at the same time.  Besides, endurance riding and time trialing come more naturally to me.  Not to mention, the guys at Tuesday Worlds have been getting stronger and stronger (Matt Triick!).

Last week I managed to hang with the second group at Tuesday Worlds.  I was thrilled because this was the first time I had stayed with any group since maybe a month before RAAM.  At last night’s Tuesday Worlds, I hoped I could keep that momentum despite not feeling particularly peppy at the start of the ride.  (I think I’m still feeling the effects of last Saturday’s 130-mile ride.)  Alas, I got dropped yet again and even earlier than usual.  Someone gapped me on the first big climb on Zebulon going out (grrr!).  Oh, well.  I’m pretty sure I would have gotten dropped later in the ride anyway.

I’ve got about two months of Tuesday Worlds left before the days get too short for road riding after work.  I’m going to go back each week and hang on as long as possible.  My goal is to stay with the group at least another time or two.  I hope I get back my cycling mojo.