How was your year?

Hope your 2006 is better, but I have to say, you might have better luck by competing more.

If you race ten days a year and a few of those days are screwed 'cause of crashes, flats, etc., then your chances that year of winning are lessened even more.

Instead, if you were to compete 30-50x a year (doable for most weekend warriors), your chances of winning something would be greatly expanded.

Even pack fodder can get a lucky break here and there and be in with a chance. But if they weren't there...

YMCA said:

Hope your 2006 is better, but I have to say, you might have better luck by competing more.

If you race ten days a year and a few of those days are screwed 'cause of crashes, flats, etc., then your chances that year of winning are lessened even more.

Instead, if you were to compete 30-50x a year (doable for most weekend warriors), your chances of winning something would be greatly expanded.

Even pack fodder can get a lucky break here and there and be in with a chance. But if they weren't there...

Thanks.
I race every Sunday with our club but I don't count those races. In 2005 I was training/racing almost every Thursday as well.
Where I live and with family commitments I can't race much more than 10 a year.
I'm missing the annual 100km race tomorrow...
🙁

I've decided to lose a lot of weight in the next few months and then a few warm up races, then I want to win in May on the course that almost broke every bone in my body last year....

Anyway.. I don't want this thread to be about me...

How was YOUR year?

Happy with it?
Train enough?
Race enough?
See enough?

What are your New Year's Resolutions for riding? based on what you didn't / couldn't do last year?

Resolutions for 2006 (through June, I'll worry about the second half when it gets here) =

-consistent efforts week to week through June
-race about 30x through June
-never start a race tired
-train hard, but rest even harder (3-5 days riding is enough)
-win, place, or at least show, each time I toe the line

I am a 41 y.o. cat1 with tons of experience, so I don't need to train more than needed and there is no need for peaking in my book, as winning anything is cool with me.

Biggest goal would be to win P12's again. If I decide to do more masters races, then I guess winning a few of those would be nice too, but really there is no comparison to winning the "main" event of the day.

Good luck to everyone out there with whatever goals they hope to accomplish. But take it from me, simple goals, like consistency, work out much better in the long run, than specific goals like winning a certain event.

2005 started out sucking for me, but thankfully lost its suckiness as the year went by.

I crashed in January in a crit getting concussed, dinged my AC joint and also broke my scaphoid (wrist) which kept me off my bike for a four day tour in March I had entered.

After I lost the cast (9 weeks) I got back into training and club racing which went reasonably well and I have moved up a grade (C to B) in club handicap races.

Then I did the end of year fun-rides and had two personal bests out of three including my first sub-5 hour 160km which finished the year nicely on a high note.

Good. I increased my max aerobic power, FT power and lactate power substantially and my endurance has gone way up. I fooled around a bit by entering a road race and did 5 time trials, where I did just fine despite not using aerobars. I got dropped in the road race, but that big coat I put on before it didn't help me (nice windy day, 5 celsius) although it did keep me warm.

Goals for 2006?

train harder! How? More mileage and a section of training dedicated to
interval training only. Also will do a few 200 km rides.

win a couple TT's
win a couple RR's, (I've got the finishing sprint kick, I just need to hold to the line)

-Bikeguy

I will take the consistency to heart...I like that.

I hope 2006 will be the beginning of something more for me. Hope I can make it into something I can be proud of and if anything I do not want to loose my will to keep going.

There are days like today where after a legs workout in the gym I go backwards because my glutes are acting up and when I am my sprinting up a hill I just seem to get passed or after the hill I can not recover fast enough. I just have to keep saying to myself there is tomorrow and tomorrow will be better. Do not loose the will and just focus on you not the others.

Keep hitting the wall until the wall comes down! This I guess will be my biggest goal for 2006, even more than finishing my first race. 🙂

-John Sirabella

YMCA said:

Resolutions for 2006 (through June, I'll worry about the second half when it gets here) =

-consistent efforts week to week through June
-race about 30x through June
-never start a race tired
-train hard, but rest even harder (3-5 days riding is enough)
-win, place, or at least show, each time I toe the line

I am a 41 y.o. cat1 with tons of experience, so I don't need to train more than needed and there is no need for peaking in my book, as winning anything is cool with me.

Biggest goal would be to win P12's again. If I decide to do more masters races, then I guess winning a few of those would be nice too, but really there is no comparison to winning the "main" event of the day.

Good luck to everyone out there with whatever goals they hope to accomplish. But take it from me, simple goals, like consistency, work out much better in the long run, than specific goals like winning a certain event.

jsirabella said:

I will take the consistency to heart...I like that.

I hope 2006 will be the beginning of something more for me. Hope I can make it into something I can be proud of and if anything I do not want to loose my will to keep going.

There are days like today where after a legs workout in the gym I go backwards because my glutes are acting up and when I am my sprinting up a hill I just seem to get passed or after the hill I can not recover fast enough. I just have to keep saying to myself there is tomorrow and tomorrow will be better. Do not loose the will and just focus on you not the others.

Keep hitting the wall until the wall comes down! This I guess will be my biggest goal for 2006, even more than finishing my first race. 🙂

-John Sirabella

Consistency was the key to all my best years. Never focusing on any one goal, just building week to week and never overtraining.

Not sure why you'd be sprinting up a hill the same day you lifted weights. Sounds a bit overboard to me.

I like your style though. Never losing your will. Just make sure you're recovering well, so you can make the most of your races and tougher group rides.

Pride is a stupid thing, suddenly a group of cyclist come up behind me looking to drop me on the hill. Eventhough I know I am not going to keep the speed throughout the sprint, I just try anyway and the inevitable happens...🙁

I have been hearing that word overtraining once too often...I may start taking it to heart.

-js

YMCA said:

Consistency was the key to all my best years. Never focusing on any one goal, just building week to week and never overtraining.

Not sure why you'd be sprinting up a hill the same day you lifted weights. Sounds a bit overboard to me.

I like your style though. Never losing your will. Just make sure you're recovering well, so you can make the most of your races and tougher group rides.

I had a really good year. Started out end of Febuary/early March with three weekends of racing(Cat 5). I crashed in the first, then placed top 15 in all the others, except for Sunday of the last weekend, where i finished 10th. Then, later in early April I raced a crit (junior) with some really nasty weather. I crashed out there and couldn't race the next day.

The tour de Georgia weekend I raced in south carolina and finsihed 14th and 8th respectivley for both days. The next weekend, April 30th, I raced in Athens for the twilight races. I placed 4th in the junoirs and 3rd in the 5s that day. May 7th, I raced a crit (Cat 5) here in Charlotte and got caught behind a crash, but got up and finished 17. Then later that day I raced the juniors race and placed 2nd.

Somewhere between then and the first of July, I raced a crit in Spartanburg (Cat 5) and finished 2nd. Then, July 29-30, I raced French Broad (juniors), I love that race, and finished 9th in the tt, 3rd in the rr, and 4th in the crit. I won the overall for juniors 15-16 and third in all juniors. The next weekend, I raced a circuit race in Winston Salem and won in the 5s, then won in the juniors later that day, both on solo attacks that lasted at least 4 laps.

The next weekend, I moved up to a 4 and raced a 4/5 race on Thursday night adn placed 8th, then later in that series, on sat, I placed 9th (Cat 4). Then, on Sunday i raced the 4s and won on a 5 lap solo break. 2 weeks later, I raced in Augusta and placed 8th in the crit, then cramped up in the rr and placed 28th. That was a beast of a course and at 60 miles, the longest race for me.

Then, i wound the season down with Carolina Cup a few weeks later, and placed top 15 both days in the fours. After that, in October, I raced in Greenville and placed 3rd in all juniors, then cramped in the four race, so dnf for that one. then, Sunday, I raced 3/4 and was caught behind a crash, but managed to finish 30th. and that was my season, couldn't ask for a better one. Hope you guys have a great 2006!!