how do you get to carnegie hall

practice practice practice...

more or less all day I spend teaching people how to use a complicated bit of equipment... the training sessions are somewhat information overload... and i realized, that one of the most important under lying themes I try to emphasize is that people practice. If they don't come in and use the system on a regular basis, when it comes time to NEEDING it for something down the road they will have forgotten most and not have become familiar with how it works, preventing them from focusing on results because they are still just focusing on process.

Zoo's bit yesterday or the day before got me thinking today about it. Reducing bike racing to just a skill set. How do you get better at a skill? Practice. At the very best bike racing is a skill. Genetics play into it providing separation that neither luck nor effort (practice) can ultimately decide.

Look at musicians. How do they get where they are? Practice. The best ones make it look effortless. Yet, it doesn't come overnight. Someone doesn't decide to be a professional violin player and reach that goal in a year.

If you want success in racing, ya gotta practice racing, no? If you want to be comfortable on stage playing an instrument you gotta get on stage and play that instrument. Sure you might suck for a while. Look at all these crapy-okie singers who think they are perfect. Are they different than some "cyclist" who does nothing but intervals, religiously tracking powertap numbers, then shows up to one race and gets destroyed by weaker riders?

I don't have answers. I know that of the races I've done more than once, it has been easy to improve, or at least prepare for getting my ass handed to me at the same place on the course. I know that the one discipline of bike racing that I have practiced the most, I suck the least in.

I would speculate that like any skill set, once you reach a certain level, those garage/basement/attic powertap intervals will be enough to maintain and focus on those specifics you know you need. The whole point is to get to that level. Certainly there are people who get to perform at Carnegie hall with far less work than others. Some never get to that level even given equal talent and hard work. It doesn't stop them from practicing and reaching a high level of their art.

Subconsciously when I pulled that 5 days a week racing training program out of my ass as a joke, it really wasn't as much satire as truth. Can you get good at Time trialing by doing intervals on your own? Sure. But, race day changes it. Even a small local TT puts different pressures on you than just going out and doing it yourself. Plunking a few dollars down, having someone else give you a time that you can't dispute, going against others. It is different. At least for me. And from what I tacitly observe for others. People more often than not approach even the training TT as a race. Not just a work out.

Scotty's philosophy chimes well with the practice practice method. Sure, i'm kinda down on the power side of things. A coach can tell you what to do till you are tracking spreadsheets and power numbers 40 hours a week. If you don't ever go out and race. They won't do ya any good. Sure once you hit that critical number of races - things start to become familiar. Confidence creeps in.

So how do you stop sucking at ______ racing? Practice.

How do you practice? You race.

*shrug*

just a few random thoughts from the big slow dude over here in a tiny state in new england... (ie don't take em seriously - never take anything i say seriously - and always, always remember the more absolute something is - the less it is - ie there is always an exception - or something like that - hmm my legs don't need it but my brain seems to need some coffee)

heddwch
g