What's in store for 2023?
With the first race of the season quickly creeping up on me I guess now is a pretty good time to be asking myself what are my expectations and goals for this season?
Whatever I do it has to be exciting and the last couple of weeks I have really started to find that rhythm in my riding. It can be argued that the weather has started to get better and the days longer, giving greater opportunity for adventures and that’s exactly what I have been doing, using my Ribble Gravel SL to explore new parts of the country and venture off of the beaten track. From Cornwall to the Yorkshire Dales and a few places in between it has been a busy few weeks venturing up and down the country.
However, last week I remembered that I actually have a few races creeping up on me. The first of those being Battle on the Beach this weekend and only last week I realised I hadn't thought about accommodation. Initially my plan was to camp in my little pop up two man tent, however when I suggested this idea in the groupchat I was reminded that Battle on the Beach is in fact on the Costa Del Swansea and not the Costa Del Sol and with snow still on top of some of the hills I thought it was best to book an Air BnB for the night.
With organisation probably being a little bit lacking and no prior experience of the event before I am hoping that my cyclocross background will come in handy. Surly wider tyres will make sand a whole lot easier to ride than 33mm tubular tyres? I guess I will find out and will have to let you know.
So what am I going there to achieve? I have heard many people claim its an event you “must do” and with it being my season opener as you may say I guess form and fitness levels are a little unknow.
There is only so much training you can do and nothing beats fine tuning that top end than racing itself. Therefore I guess the biggest goal of the event is to go and have fun, relish having no pressure and see if I can surprise myself. Obviously I am a racer at heart so I am certainly not going for an easy gig, but if I can slip into that top five I will be pretty chuffed.
Hopefully the 1st of April will be my season opener on the road with an entry to the RCR Fatcreations road race around the Goodwood submitted. An event I really enjoyed last year even after being dropped by the winning break and then again by the chasing peloton to finish I think dead last. Fingers crossed this year is slightly more successful.
Personally I race best when I am having fun with no pressure on my shoulders and that’s whats so good about the Ribble Collective set up. By being given complete free reign on the events I want to enter this year there are almost too many options to choose from. One thing I think I can claim though is that I will have the most varied calendar of any rider this season.
From gravel and beach races on board my gravel bike, to road races and crits on board my road bike to mountain bike races and 250 plus kilometer endurance events on my mountain bike there sure is some variety already planned. My calendar has still yet to be finalised and will be released at a slightly later date, but there are certainly some exciting developments in the works. There are even talks about setting up my own event, but more on that again at a later date.
So what are my goals for my 2023 Spring and Summer racing campaign?
- Win the Newark national crit.
- Win a national B road race.
- Qualify for the gravel World Championships.
- Podium at the national MTB marathon championships.
They are some pretty outrageous goals and some may say probably a little unrealistic for a privateer racer. Maybe they do push the boundaries but if goals were easy to achieve then there would be no point of getting up and going out training each morning. I guess I could collectively call them Project Impossible?
I also know that they are also all outcome goals and there are many variable factors, especially in cycling that can affect these goals and so each must be taken with a little pinch of salt. However, if I didn’t think they were capable then I wouldn’t be writing them down here for the whole world to see.
I have already achieved one of my goals this year and that was to run a half marathon so I guess Project Impossible is a go?
I teased on the idea a little earlier about setting up my own event. I guess that this is also another goal of mine for the year. I will not go into too much detail yet because as it stands it’s still just a vision but I would love to create an event that brings people together all of whom have a joint passion of riding their bikes and wanting to push their own boundaries of what they are capable of. The idea being it will be a pretty laid back affair, away from the racing scene and instead will just let people to ride their bikes and have fun. I already have in mind a few ideas of what I envisage so I guess you will just have to watch this space to see what’s in store. Keep your eyes peeled!
As mentioned all of the goals set above are outcome goals which means that they are either achieved or not so keeping track of if I have completed them should be pretty easy. Of course I do have some more personal performance goals and process goals , it’s always motivating when you have things to work towards.
But for now the process is all about building the foundations for Project Impossible.
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