Over on MTBR, there is this guy that has been stepping up his training to enter a harder class. He asked if he should go sport or expert (he did limited racing the previous year). Most people suggested he try at least a couple of races in Sport class. Well, he started comparing his times from riding the courses, and figured he'd place well in expert. He also saw that his FTP numbers were comparable to those in the expert class...
Now, as any of you who do any racing know, there's more to racing than just numbers. You may have an incredible one lap time, but how will that time hold up for 3,4, or 5 laps at race pace? Numbers mean very little, except as a marker for potential. At this year's Bump n Grind, I had a one lap time that, using this guy's reasoning, would've given me a decent expert class finish. But. I was going all out for a race that I knew was only one lap of the 17 mile course. I didn't have another lap in me at that pace.
No surprise, the guy got his ass handed to him in the expert class, and he's downgrading to sport. He took a big mental blow over it, and that was worse than getting beat like a rented mule.
He learned a hard lesson. Numbers are all well and good, but nothing beats the experience of getting out and racing your bike.
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