Today as I was riding, I was thinking about the Sea Otter road race, and I was thinking about some statements I heard in the feed zone. I notice that we sometimes stop racing for the win, and race against one specific person. Sometimes we forget that we are racing for the victory, and are racing for the sole purpose of beating one person. I've done it, you've done it, we have all done it. Reflecting on Sea Otter, while riding through the feed zone, I heard someone yell, "You better beat Jack, don't let him beat you!". This perplexes me, because I was not in contention for the win. This is a terrible way to race, competition between one another is healthy, and constructive, but when you no longer race for the win, and race to beat one specific person, this is when it becomes wrong, and extremely negative. It's something we can all work on, it is something all of us fall under. Always be positive in your racing. Our cycling community is a very small, close knit group and you never know who your teammates may be in the future.
Cheers,
Jack Maddux
Hi Jack, this mostly has to do with parents. They need a way to measure their child's success. You've done well your junior career, so if a child beats you then their parents can puff their chests out. There are a lot of problems with junior racing, mostly kids coming out of juniors with huge egos. If you keep yours in check like you've always done, you'll have a lot more success than someone measuring themselves against 1 person.
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