For those who are not familiar. The Race I am gearing up is being put on by a club called the Dallas Off-Road Bicycle Association (Dorba). I frequent their forums as they have a pretty active online community. This morning I began my morning ritual reading sites I like to catch up on that I didn’t read over the weekend. One of the post on this forum struck me as kinda sad.
The poster explained that the race course for cat 3 ( my category/beginner category) was to hard, and a lot of returning & beginning racers alike would not be racing in this race as the course is not smoother dirt road single track. The Sansom park course is more technical than the first two races in this series.
There were many more post who agree and more still who didn’t agree. I am in the latter camp. My question is WHY NOT? Why not race?
Mountain biking is a demanding sport. You have to be physical and mentally prepared for what the trail you are on will throw at you or you can get hurt. You test your mind and body, and the feeling I get from accomplishing a hard trail is what keeps me coming back for more!
While this series is catered to beginners and pros a like I think there is a difference between a Beginner rider entering a race and a Beginning racer. I use my self as an example. I have been riding consistently for almost 2 years straight. I have grown comfortable on my bike and have seen just about everything in what North Texas trails provide. I wanted to up my experience and take it to the next level. I feel that is racing….
Is racing for every one ? Absolutely not, but I think you should at least try. However skipping a race course because you think it is to hard is just well I do not know…. I think you will miss out on a opportunity to test your self to your limits, and come out on top. Not racing, because the course is to technical which may stop you from maybe finishing in the top 3? I guess every one has excuses….. But when you take all that away its just you and your will power… Set a goal to just finish the race. That is what I am doing.. I know this course is hard, I know this will be my first race and I do not know exactly what to expect out there… But I made a commitment to test my riding ability against others on one of the hardest trails in North Texas. Either I finish first, last, or somewhere in between, it doesn’t matter…. What matters is that I set a goal and I am setting out to accomplish that goal, and when I do that makes me a winner in my own mind. I will go home after the race knowing I did what I set out to do.
So while you are sitting home wondering what could have been there will be a group of racers, my self include bringing our all, and leaving it all on the trail. In the end we are all winners.
