Cross Country : The Trial Race

I know this entry should have been posted long ago as it happened about a week ago. But as they say, better late than never. Here goes.

I finally went through with the trial cross country race with Joachim last Monday. It was a really exciting race where i gave it a 120%. The best thing about this race was the fact that i didn't know where my opponent was since i passed him early in the race and had to pass him again in order to win. So i didn't really have an idea how far he was in front of me. All i have is my stop watch where i can estimate how much time i can be allowed per lap in order to be anywhere near beating him...So it was more of a mental test where i constantly have to fight myself and keep myself pushing to the limit despite being so exhausted. Many times i felt like giving up to the exhaustion and abdominal pain, but i was determined to keep on fighting. With each cycle i kept my pace to an average 24 km/h which allowed me to finish 18.2km of cross country dirt tracks in 44 minutes. However, despite the dramatic explanation of the race given above, i did not manage to beat Joachim as he was patiently waiting at the finishing point for 6 minutes.

There are a few things in the race that i think stole precious time from me in the race, 1st, of course my fitness level, then comes the pedestrians, and lastly there was a big log in the middle of the road blocking the way. So i had to stop and carry my bike over it, so i lost more that 15 seconds there, twice(because the race was 2 laps for me). so by the end of the first lap, i was already down 2 minutes and by the half of the 2nd lap, i was left with 8 minutes!! By the end of the race i could see stars an i felt a bit light headed after giving it 120% of my energy.. looks like i have to work harder to beat this guy. I need to work on my strategy of when to go fast and when to maintain speed..but it was a good first try...