SR-899

One of the biggest obstacles I run into off the track is the opinion factor. Everyone has their opinion of how I should be riding, training, racing, etc. People who have never ridden don't understand how difficult or physically demanding racing is. People who have occasionally raced or ridden don't understand why I'm not doing better than I am. And everyone seems to think I should just be doing better than I am. All sides offer good advice and only a fool would ignore the advice completely. But when it comes down to it I have to be able to figure out which advice to listen to and which advice to ignore.


So how do I figure out what to listen to and what to ignore? The answer comes down to some key factors: Being aware of where I am both in my fitness and in my skill, confidence that my training is actually paying off, and ultimately the self-respect to not be embarrassed or bothered by the criticism of my performances because I know that you have to crawl before you can walk.

 My current performance this season is a perfect example. I'm currently fighting for fourth in both my classes. The top three guys thus far have been just too fast to keep up with. Conventional wisdom would be to question why the hell I'm so slow. I mean, I've been riding and racing forever and both classes are for riders who are at least 30 years old. Not to mention that my bike is only last year's model with about 3 grand worth of add-ons. I should be doing better, right?

Maybe I should. But shoulda/coulda/woulda doesn't win races. All it does is make you second-guess the decisions you've made. Assessing your performance and identifying your weaknesses with the humility to know where you suck is what it takes to improve. And setting realistic goals is what it takes to succeed in the long term.

After watching the GoPro footage of last weekend's races, I see that I had the speed to at least hang with the leaders. I just didn't have the fitness to recover from my mistakes and hold a good pace. Once I got out of shape the race was over. But I have a weekend off and know what I need to do to get ready for Central Village this weekend. And I have a realistic view of what to set for my expectations.

I always set two goals: What I expect of myself, and what I really want to happen. My goal for Central is to simply stay with the leaders. Get in there, match their pace, and finish with them still in sight. What I really want to happen is to have enough of a pace to finish in the top three, but if I set that as the goal and it doesn't happen then I feel like a failure. And at the end of the day if you feel like you've failed, you will never succeed.

Losers look at the past and wish they had done things differently. Winners look to the future and ask themselves, "How do I get better for next time?"