This also means that I had time to look back and reflect upon the past season and have a look forward to next season. These are some of the questions I am frequently asked and my answers:
Are you happy with your results this season?
Yes, I am very, very happy with my past season and how it all went. I mean, what a season!
Here are some statistics:
Total races: 25
12 in Ireland, 11 in Great Britain, 1 in Germany, 1 in Italy
Off road: 20 (13 XCO, 5 XCM, 2 Relay)
Road: 5 (4 Road, 1 TT)
Podiums: 17
1st places: 10
2nd places: 6
3rd places: 1
My results totally surpassed all of my hopes and expectations by far. Ryan thinks that it really helped that I had an early "break-through" race, my first race abroad, the first round of the British NPS, where I was so afraid of making a joke out of myself or coming last, but eventually came 2nd. This race really helped me to believe in my abilities and boosted my confidence for the races afterwards.
Some of this year's glassware....How do you keep so motivated throughout the racing season and where do you take the energy from?
Lol, a lot of people only see my good side, when I race and perform well, but it's just as hard for me as for other people. And it is really hard to keep motivation up for such a long season of racing, especially if you race this much. Training and racing takes a lot of hard work and no, unfortunately it doesn't come easy to me. And I am not always super motivated, my coach can tell you that. I do complain and question myself as well, it's not always rosy for me either, it's just that only my coach really hears me complaining. It is a constant mental effort to keep myself motivated and well prepared for a race and something I keep working on conciously. Everybody has their own tricks. I find music can motivate me on a long epic spin, or imagining I am chasing somebody in a race or just thinking of where I want to be and that this horrible hill repeat will get me there.
I found that the mental side of things is just as important as the physical fitness. I have had races where I was in peak physical condition, but just not mentally motivated, which showed in my results. Similarly, I have done races where my physical condition was crap, but just because I so much wanted to win, I was still able to push my body to its absolute limits and do well.
I also found that having a good race really boost my motivation and I usually train really well after a good racing weekend (which doesn't necessarily mean a win, but more that I have given everything mentally and physically or maybe that I had a good battle with another rider), so it's kind of a positive feedback circle, the better the race, the better the training, the better I ride in the next race - it's a win/win situation!! ;)
What do you like about racing?
The excitement, the adrenaline, the challenge, the chasing and being chased, the sense of achievement, the satisfying tiredness and achiness after a race, the food afterwards, the recognition....
One really nice thing about racing is that you end up going to some of the most beautiful places in the world and meet some really nice people. And the cool thing is you keep meeting these people again and again at other races. It's so nice to be part of such a lovely community. And with internet these days it's even possible to keep up over borders and timezones.
I also think that one can learn so much more in just one race than in any single training session, that's why this season I went and did so many races, especially abroad, where the level of competition is higher than locally here in Ireland, especially for women. I also find that I race a lot harder and push myself much more than in training and would ride technical terrain much more comfortably in a race than in training. Ryan just cannot believe that in a race I can be within 18% of his time, but when we go for a spin together I am so much slower and so much more of a chicken!
What do you NOT like about racing?
Travelling to races, especially by airplane, is a pain. The logistics and stress involved in all the planning and booking and driving and getting up early is something I could really do without, especially when you also have a full time job. At least Ryan and I went to most races together, so we could share the work of finding B&Bs, suitable flights and the cost of renting a car etc. One of the biggest pains in flying with a bike is bike packing and unpacking. The amounts of bubble wrap and insulating tube we use to protect our bikes for the flight is unbelievable. So hopefully Ryan and I will be able to get our hands on some easy to pack bike boxes for next season which would make things a lot easier.
What will you do different next year?
Racing takes a lot out of me. I raced 25 races over a period of 27 weekends (sometimes there would be 2 or more races in a weekend). 25 races was probably a little too much, considering that quite a few of them were not just cross country, but marathon races which do take more time to recover from. But my aim was to do as much racing as possible to gain as much racing experience as possible, so while it took me longer to recover from those, I think it was worthwhile doing the marathons this year.
There is only a very few races where your physical and mental condition are at its peak. I found it hard to keep up motivation and give it my all in every race over such a long racing period, especially when there was a string of races with lots of travelling involved. Travelling and racing can be rather stressful, especially when you also have a full-time job. There really is only a few races where everything is perfect and while I am getting closer at finding out what the factors involved are, it is still a bit of trial and error.
Another thing I learned is the value of having a support person at races. I have lost places and probably even a win if I had had the same support as the people who placed ahead of me. While I had been in races where I had to stop, fill up my water bottle from a neutral feed zone station, other racers where able to just whizz by and pick up their energy drink and gels from their support person, gaining valuable time on me. And I cannot thank all of you who have helped me out during this year in races enough, it is very very appreciated.
What's your plan for next year?
The plan for the next season is to shift the focus more onto cross country racing and to do less marathon races, since these just do take that bit longer to recover from which takes away from training intensity the following week.
Similarly, since I don't think it is possible for every race to always be in peak condition and give it all, for next season, I will pick out some races which are going to be my A races in which I want to do really good in, the rest being B and C (= training) races.
The main aim for both Ryan and I next season from a sporting point of view is to gather UCI points and also to gain experience on the highest competitive level by attending some World Cups. The stories you hear about how competitive and aggressive (in its physical sense) World Cup racing is are scary!! But you also hear about how much they help you improve, and we believe it's time to give it a try.
What's your off-season like? Are you doing nothing? Will you still be out on the bike?
My off season started after the last Irish NPS 3 weeks ago and will last one more week. My coach basically told me that I can do whatever I want sports wise, but I should try and do at least a little bit so that I don't loose all of my fitness and don't put on too much weight. I felt that I was really raced out after my last race in Castlewellan, which unfortunately didn't go so well, so I actually took time off the mountain bike totally (I still did most of my commuting on bike). I felt I needed the mental break. I am eating a lot of chocolate and ice cream and desserts, stuff I wouldn't eat during training and certainly not before a race or at least not in these amounts. I put on about 2kg, but I think I'll loose that pretty quickly again when I start proper training. It took about a week for my metabolism to calm down after I stopped proper training, but now I eat a lot less than I do when I train, which is a pity, because now I can actually allow myself to eat all the less healthy foods! I went for a leisurely bike ride yesterday and will go for a short run today, maybe go for a swim later in the week - so yeah, it's still quite relaxing for another week.
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