Focusing on Fun

Racing for the fun of it and focusing on process goals got me a result.

More racing, more experiences. It’s been great.

Since I last wrote here, I raced three more races, got the opportunity to travel to Toscana for a few days and even got my first prize money from racing my bike since a 5-euro bill from a U17 Kermesse in Belgium, a race I didn’t even finish.

(Well, prize money that I won, not working for my leaders in a team).

Why isn’t every race like this?

The Racing Part of It

I raced three races, and in each of them, my goal was to have fun, race like myself, the way I like to race and see what result I can do. To be fair, there are always parts in a race I enjoy and parts I don’t.

The first race was in a town in Toscana called Lastra a Signa- a race I vividly remember from last year, racing with my club team. Why? Last year it happened in the spring- it was a super rainy day and it took me a while to get into the mix in that race, when finally I did and felt like I’m actually racing and contesting, someone touched wheels and went down right in front of me, taking me down too. There’s a nice video of that on YouTube.

This year’s race was on the same course- laps with a hill in each lap, while the last lap has a different, steeper one. It went great for 4/5 laps and I had fun racing and riding hard, then it started pouring rain, I smiled to myself thinking- “Ah, didn’t miss that part of racing”. We arrived at the decisive climb; it was wet and slippery.

I like to ride out of the saddle, but I couldn’t. My back wheel kept slipping, so I needed to ride seated. It was hard. On the steepest part of the climb, still in touch with the front group I saw my old team manager on the roadside cheering on one of his riders. This guy made my previous year so miserable, and something flipped in my head. I lost contact with this front group of 9 riders going for the win, I was somewhere in between the first and second groups on the road, moving nowhere, so I waited for the second group. I didn’t really contest the sprint and rolled in at 22nd. I couldn’t believe that this is what kept me from the top 10 or maybe even a win, it wasn’t physical, it was only inside my own thoughts, and I decided to listen to the wrong ones- even though they are just thoughts.

A casual view photo from Toscana, as I don’t have any race photos :)

My next race was a flat one. I knew this type of race doesn’t quite suit me, so I tried to race offensively but nothing stuck and there was actually no breakaway the whole race. My coach's instructions for that day were 5:30 hours. (meaning racing the race, then completing the remaining duration). The race was quite fast with ~44 km/h average for the 140km course. I smiled inside knowing I have to ride home and then some, as I knew it would probably be one of my longest ever rides in kilometers.

After that race, I got the chance to go for a few days of riding in Toscana, on some very familiar roads from last season, where I had many experiences and memories, good and bad, but more on that in a paragraph or two.

My Best Race Yet?

My last race here was my best race this season, maybe even ever. It was a local race, like all of the races I’m doing here. It consisted of 18 laps with a climb in them, a classic Italian I guess. The first 9 laps were longer, and the last 9 laps were shorter, so less rest between the climbs.

There was a prize for the GPM, so each lap there are points to win on the finish line. On the second lap I found myself in the break of the day, racing offensively as I love. I didn’t know what would be the destiny of this breakaway group. We had some of the bigger teams represented in there, but I wasn’t sure it’ll stick. I really wanted to get at least something from this day, so I made sure to cross the finish line first on each lap and had a ‘gentleman's agreement’ with one of the teams that I’d do most of the work on the climb in order to get the points, and they won’t fight for it. Sure, I wasted energy and it might've been stupid, but I had fun and didn’t know how things will end.

Eventually, after some attacking and chasing, we ended up as a group of 10 riders on the final climb, and I managed to sprint for 6th. I got the GPM prize and a prize on an intermediate sprint I didn’t know existed.

I rode back home and was really happy. That was a really good day on the bike and it’s even more fun to get a good result and bring a bottle of wine or two back home to my parents (As mediocre as the wine might be…)

It could easily be my best ever race as well. I’ve never finished in the top 10 of an elite road race, apart from podiuming at Nationals. Regardless of what happens in the future for me, I’m happy about this day.

Toscana Will Always Be Toscana

I already wrote this one as a note on Substack, I write it again here a bit more detailed for those of you who don’t use the app.

I had the opportunity to join the women’s team I’m staying with in Italy for the Giro Della Toscana Donne. This happened between the 2nd and 3rd races I’m writing about here.

It meant I got to ride and train on some different roads for a few days. In fact, they’re roads I know almost by heart- I spent last season living and racing here, while being pretty unhappy most of the time. Every road there has its own story for me, a memory, an experience, good or bad. This was one of the reasons I really wanted to go on that trip.

Back then, last season, there was a period when I rode the same loop almost every day. The loop consisted of a climb to Pizzorne. There was always one man on that climb to Pizzorne: no helmet, no shirt, riding a metal bike covered in stickers. Pizzorne is a village on top of a mountain, and the road there is oh so steep. And humid. By the time you reach the top, it feels like it’s rained on you.

I didn’t ride that climb, or the roads here in over a year. First time back, I’m grinding up again- and there he is, the same old man, descending past me. No helmet, no shirt, metal bike, stickers.

Some things never change.

This was my welcoming back to my old training roads. I visited almost all of the places I used to ride daily at. To my surprise, the two people I purposely went to say hi to actually remembered me. Paulo from “il Rey Dei Cappuccino” and Cinzia, the lady from the “Alimentari” me and my roommates used to do almost all of our shopping there as there’s no nearby grocery store in San Baronto. I passed by all of those places again and I was actually happy; it had some sense of a closure to it. The only place that gave me a bit of a stomach ache was when I was closest to that old apartment I used to live in. I wish I had the time to visit Enrique at the bike shop I frequented most. Maybe some other time.

Funnily enough I only remembered the good things about those roads, totally forgetting the absurd number of trucks they have in the mountains there. It was a good one nevertheless.

What Now?

To be completely honest I’ve been sick for the past few days and it is quite depressing. I hadn’t been sick for more than a year and believed I was pretty good at avoiding it, and that I never would be. I still have two races left until I get back home, so basically two races left for the season and as soon as I feel better, I’ll get back to enjoying it and maybe do some other fun things as well once I’m done racing. Perhaps do a mini bikepacking trip of riding towards the Alps and spend the night at a random town or something similar of sorts.

I don’t want to jinx it, but somehow, my best races so far are when I’m enjoying them and mainly when I race like myself. When I come with the playing mindset rather than a “performance at all costs” one.

Again, I don’t have a clue what’s happening with me next season and if an opportunity will come or not, so what’s left is truly enjoying it and doing it for the love of the sport.

Thank you so much for reading this. I really appreciate it.

Sometimes only when people come and say they read what I write I actually realize it.

So, thank you for that, and please consider subscribing :)

As always, Until next time,

Yonatan

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