MAC SERIES Race #9
Presented by: First State Velo Sport, Fair Hill, Maryland Saturday,
November 06, 2010
Elite Masters 35+/45+
Could it get any worse! The season started well, with a couple of motivating results in some Elite/Pro/A races. Since then everything has gone down and around the proverbial ‘U-bend’. I drove to Fair Hill, Maryland on Saturday and really wish I hadn’t. Map Quest said 2.5 hours – I did it 2! – which really turned out to be the highlight of the day! Amazingly no traffic passing through Philadelphia which is usually pretty miserable. Arrived in plenty of time to check out the course which looked pretty cool, weather was cooler and a bit windy, but no need to layer up too much (yet)!
The Start Line: Lined up near the back again, behind all the call-ups – anticipating moving up the field with some relative ease!
Gun goes, I clip in, total donkey next to me wobbles and nearly knocks me to the ground, so with one foot down I start all over as the field tears up the straight with me hanging out the back, again! I’m not going to bore you with what happened during most of the race, but ‘it’ or rather ‘I’ was totally crap, I found a couple of sweet lines to save time and move up but on the last lap one of those lines really wasn’t very sweet and I went down hard in a very large bramble bush. Finished in…
At this stage of the season motivation is a major issue, I’m training well and trying not to over train, while making sure I get enough recovery. I see my peers finishing in the upper teens and low 20’s, guys I’ve been riding with for years. Some have never beaten me and some I trade places with! My legs just don’t seem to have any power! All very disappointing, expecting cross to be my time to ‘shine’ – think the bulb’s gone! – Good job the drive home was only 2 hours!
It’s times like this where grit and determination take over. We hope to see Martin back up and performing well soon! Let us know below how your season’s going and if you have any words of wisdom for Martin make sure to include them.
