The last race of the Ascent Cycling Series looms on the horizon. Race 5 of 5 will go down at Bear Creek Park this Wednesday night. It has been a great season and there are a lot of classes battling it out for the final podium positions that will not be decided until the dust settles Wednesday. 

One more race means one more chance for me to experience entering in to race trance mode. That is what I have dubbed the feeling when I am having a great day on the bike and my effort and handling both fall in sync with the race taking place. Instead of being lulled into the indifferent state of flow that can happen (and is wonderful) while out doing a general trail ride, race trance keeps you on point and always consciously firing the bike forward whenever given the opportunity. In a flow state you are not thinking about others and it lacks aggressiveness but in race trance you still consider fellow racers and can accurately gauge how far someone is behind or ahead of you and the effort and probability that they can catch you or visa versa. Sure you are always challenging yourself to race the best you can, but eventually racing bikes always boils down to trying to beat someone else to the finish line. I wish that I had a huge budget and unlimited resources to research this competition state, because I know that it exists and is powerful, but just the same as the allusive flow of a trail ride, it is extremely hard to replicate and put yourself consistently in this position. When you do, it is beautiful. 

One thing I do think helps me enter this state easier is racing on familiar terrain. I know that not everyone likes going back to the same venues as much as I do, but I really enjoy getting to know - not only the rhythm of a trail but the way that a bike race unfolds across a specific section of trail. In my 24 hour racing days I liked the lap nature of the courses and discovered that in that format I can more easily slide my way into a race trance as I honed in on the features of the trail and effort required to efficiently chug my way across the course. Over the last 4 years I have raced well over 10 times at Bear Creek and have seen the adaptation in myself from first going out there and racing like I was swinging a battle axe to now I automatically know where to push the pedals, where to set up in corners, and what parts of the course allow for time to be made and lost. I get a real kick out of going through this process and even though I know no formula for entering myself into a race trance I do feel I am starting to gather the elements through 15 years of trial and error and at least now have somewhat of a repeatable path.

The local season is wrapping up again. I like the first race a whole heck of a lot more than I do the last. But everything has its season and as summer moves into the last month in Colorado Springs we are just a few short weeks away from seeing and feeling the turn of the year into the cool and colors of fall. We are not sure right now what the next season holds for the local race series, we will see if we can convince Andy to rally the energy behind the race series for another year. But we do know there is a bike race on Wednesday night so don’t miss the opportunity to come out and play bikes in the dirt. 

Also make sure you make the party Friday night at Ascent Cycling. Series awards will be handed out and from what I hear beer and brats are on the menu. Show up and celebrate the year and all the effort that was out in by racers, sponsors, and staff to make racing happen. And buy something from Ascent while you are there. Lets keep our sponsors coming back for more!

See you at the races.