For the last race of the camp we made the foray into the Netherlands for the GP Groenendaal. Those of us still left to race were faced with snowy, icy conditions that mother nicely decided to bookend our trip with. Snow for arriving, snow for leaving, and lots of Belgian mud in between. The course was tricky to say the least. Had it been dry it would have been pretty interesting with far more swoopy turns then any of the other courses we had raced on. However, with the combination of a few inches of fresh snow and the ground being frozen solid, it turned into a race of fewer errors and who was the most aggressive passer. There were few wide-open sections and even fewer good lines. It was like racing on one ribbon of very frozen single track where the corners were all lined with ice. After a crash in the start stretch that saw me miss the bikes on the ground only to be pin-balled off someone’s shoulder and straight into the post mounted TV camera with my shoulder (still nursing a bruised shoulder) I settled into the game of figuring out how to try and move up when going even one mph faster through the turns meant about a 70% increase in the likelihood of crashing. Given the conditions it was a course that really favored those with good “snap” out of turns, because as you could carry no momentum through them the space in between turns was spent either accelerating out of one or decelerating for the next. I had a pretty solid race, finishing up in 33rd out of about 70 starters. I found it consoling that former world champion of cyclocross Lars Boom, who started in my row because of his lack of UCI points (he’s been racing on the road more now), was only able to make it into 22nd. It was really that hard of a course to move up on. If the person in front of you really wanted to guard their position with a leg out in the turns etc, it was extremely difficult to pass. And just like that the racing was over and the off-season began. I even had some cookies as a celebratory symbolism to no longer needing a post race recovery shake….umm cookies are way better then protein powder.

After the race, and a long ride back to the house due to some weather related traffic, it was the race to pack bikes, wheels and everything else in preparation for an early morning departure to Brussels airport. Some creative packing allowed me to accommodate the newly enacted one carry-on rule and still not have my bike case or 4-wheel bag be over weight. And luckily, somehow, the baggage gods decided to smile on me and grant me a reprieve for all my good karma lately and I was able to check my double bike case and said wheel bag for $50 instead of the possible $250. Sweet! Now all I could hope for is that they make it to JFK on the same plane I was on. After spending what seemed, through the magic of flying backwards in time zones, like an infinitesimal amount of time either on planes or waiting for them I made it safe and sound to my grandmothers house in Harrison where my Dad was waiting to pick me up. Oh, and amazingly, my bike and bag made it as well. Home sweet home. Damn it’s cold!

It might just be that I spend too much time thinking about bikes and racing, but I am always finding the allegorical ways that racing provides lessons for real life. The ups and downs of a season, the reaching of certain goals only to have others fall short is something I try and carry with me in dealing with other aspects of my life. As my European campaign is over and I’m writing this while sitting on my cozy futon in my cozy house looking out the window at a world blanketed in a cold white shroud, it’s easy to cast a reflective eye back over a season with a little more perspective then you are sometimes granted in the heat of the moment. There are ways in which I could look at my trip to Belgium and be disappointed at not having the best of luck, or perhaps even my best of form. On the other hand, and I think this is the important part, is that I got to experience something I’ve always dreamed about. When you’re lined up on the start line it’s hard to take a moment and realize what’s going on and where you are. But now, as I think about it, I realize that I was lined up at races with the highest level of competition in the world. Until cyclocross makes it as an Olympic sport the World Cup and Super Prestige series will constitute the highest level of obtainable competition.

It seems like a long time ago sometimes, but when I was fifteen and first racing mountain bikes for the first time, this moment couldn’t be conceived of in my over imaginative brain. That I would some day reach a level where I could line up with some of the best athletes in the world in any sport was unfathomable to me. So am I disappointed that I got lapped in some races where I think if I’d had that extra three percent I had in November I could have finished higher up? Am I disappointed that some jerk stepping on my wheel and a missed bike change derailed my best race? Yes. I never go into a race without wanting to give it my best and do well. On the other hand, I did give it everything I had, I got a few solid results, and I know I have a lot more work still to do. But the experience has been an instrumental learning curve, like deep immersion in a language. I have thrown more shoulders in a week then I have in the past three seasons. I think I’ll be less intimidated by starts, and certainly more cautious of guarding my position in races. I need to run more, and practice massive power outputs like those necessary to blast through hundreds of yards of six-inch deep mud. And despite all of these shortcomings and things I need to improve, I am less disheartened then looking forward to how to improve.

A few days ago I would have told you I couldn’t wait till the off-season. Now, after not riding for a whole two days I am already itching to go out and train super super hard for the upcoming road season. (I know, I know, I can hear you all telling me that I need more then a two day break…I’m trying) This trip has been motivational and inspirational. It is the simultaneous achievement of a dream and a stepping-stone to what I hope will be further success. It was an honor and a pleasure, and I hope I get to go back again next year with even more learned, and newfound motivation. Thank you all again for helping to make this possible for me. It was amazing.

-Justin

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 10:47 am and is filed under News and Results. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.