I have joined the Mafia Racing team for the 2008 season. Mafia Racing is a national-caliber team that supports elite level racers from around the country. The team attends many of the national events, so I'll have some teammates to hang out with and get some support while at races far from home. So look for me out on the course sporting the distinctive black kit (or the new all-white kits that will be unveiled soon).
In order to train like a semi-pro, I had to free up some time to ride more and recover better. Since just about every minute of every day was allocated, I had to do some rearranging to accommodate the additional saddle time. As of January 1, I am easing back a bit on the lawyering and will be working a part-time schedule this year thanks to my supportive employer. The extra time will go into increasing my training volume and otherwise being a more dedicated bike racer. Now I have no excuses, except for the nasty weather that has plagued Seattle this winter.
Qualifying for the MTB National Championships at Mt. Snow was a big objective of mine this year. With the upgrade to semi-pro, I was worried that I would not get the necessary top-10 at a NMBS event . Plus, neither Washington nor Oregon have a USA Cycling sanctioned qualifier event. So, I scoured the early season race schedules from around the country to find a state championship event that I could race and try to get a top-15 result to qualify. Not sure why top-15 gets you in for a state event, but only top-10 from a national. I came across and decided to compete in the McDowell Meltdown near Scottsdale, Arizona on January 19th. The race would serve many purposes: an opportunity to ride in shorts and jersey sans rain gear, some Vitamin D replenishment, good training, and most importantly an early chance to qualify for Mt. Snow. I boxed up the bike and SLR and I hopped a cheap flight down to AZ.
Once in AZ, the jitters started to set in. For the first time in a long time, I was really nervous for a race. How would I fare against the faster competition? Am I in over my head? Am I going to embarrass myself in front of my new Mafia teammates? To make matters even more stressful, the pro and semi-pro fields were run together with about 25 guys competing. Oh, I almost forgot, I have been on the MTB a total of only 3 days since October and have done like two days of intensity in my training. Once the gun fired, all of my worries vanished as I focused on ripping the desert 1track and spinning the pedals powerfully. I started the 32-mile race conservatively and as it progressed kept upping my pace. During the latter half of the race, I was passing guys in rapid succession and moving up. I surged into the finishing straight to the cheers of the SLR. It turns out I was 12th overall and if you eliminate the pros from the mix even higher! Plus, I had some left in the tank at the finish so I know I can improve. Wow, talk about a boost to the morale and a real motivator to train even harder. Mt. Snow here I come. Here's a few pics from the race.
Yep, it was the desert.
Warming up on the trainer.
Only a few (hundred) guys showed up at the start line.
Waiting to launch.
Desert 1track.
More 1track.
Powering up one of the sharp pitches that pepper the McDowell Mountain race course.
SLR learned about the jumping cholla while spectating.
Mission accomplished. I hope this weekend is a harbinger of things to come for the 2008 race season. Next post will be my complete race schedule.
Blue Star
2 comments:
Congrad's on two fronts, the new team and the early season result. Looking forward to following how your season goes. Quite envious I couldn't do something like it myself...
We'll see what the future holds as I'm just starting out on the bike.
Thanks, man. Sitck with it. As Plato says, "The beginning is the most important part of the work."
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