2009 Season Review

Now that the season's over, it's a good time to think about how the year went. I'll start forgetting stuff soon as I transition back to being a "normal" person for a while.

The mountain bike season got off to an unspectacular start. I managed to hurt my knee early this Spring, due to a position issue and probably doing too much too soon. That definitely set me back from a fitness perspective, but it did open the door for me to work on some riding skills.

My first couple of mountain bike races weren't so hot. It's hard to compete with the guys who have been training and doing the early season races when you effectively started training in May. As my fitness built up and my confidence in my skills improved, I started getting faster. By the end of the season, I had a nice 3rd place finish at the Pontiac Lake XC race and a 4th at Addison Oaks. I felt like I ended the mountain bike season in the best shape I've ever been in for mountain bike racing.

One of my goals for the year was to get good enough results and lap times to feel confident about moving up to Expert next year. With the exception of a couple early races this year, I feel like I accomplished that, so I'll be moving up for next year.

It was kind of an interesting year in terms of training. I rode less than I have in years past. The result was improved training consistency and better "balance" with the other things in my life. The balance thing is key, it's no good being out on a training ride feeling guilty because you're not spending enough time with your family. I also spent a lot more time working on my bike handling.

The cyclocross season seemed to be sort of the opposite of the mountain bike season. I got off to a fast start with top 10 finishes in each of my first 5 races. Then I got sick for a couple weeks in October and I never seemed to get back to the same level after that. The other interesting thing about this year's cyclocross season was that, even though I raced more than I have before (11 races), my motivation stayed pretty high the whole season. In past years, I've usually felt a bit burned out at some point. Maybe that's also attributable to training a bit less?

I had hoped to perform well enough at the 'cross races to also consider moving up for next year (admittedly, I hadn't looked at lap times before I had this idea), but I'm not really close right now. Even at the beginning of the season, I wasn't close. I would have had to improve from where I started (which I've done every year except this one!). So, it looks like another year of the B's for me.

So, there are a few key things that I learned this year that I'm going to try to carry over.

1. Even though I didn't like the cause, I sort of liked starting the season a little late. I think I'm going to start later next year too, maybe not worry too much about getting on the bike until the end of March / early April. It means that I have no chance to get ready for the early mountain bike races, but I'm OK with that. I figure that maybe I'll start racing in June again. It also sets me up nicely for cyclocross...

2. I really need to listen to myself! On the infamous ride where I got hurt this Spring, I knew that I should stop and go home, but I didn't. Before I got sick in October, I knew that I was pushing my limits in terms of training and sleep, but I just kept going. Training consistency is so much more important than trying to squeeze in that little bit extra.

3. I kind of hinted at it, but didn't come out and say it above. Especially during the mountain bike season, I think I was faster than in past years simply because I could handle my bike better. It's been a gradual process, but I think that, especially with what I learned at Gene's camp, I should continue to get better... and I still have a lot of room for improvement.