A cyclocross start - The hole shot !
A cyclocross start - 60 riders going for the best line, the first corner is everything, the more explosive and aggressive you can be off the start line, the better your chances of getting into that corner first. Cross starts became something I had to work at in my training for me to have confidence on race day. Many things affected my starts, sometimes I would nail them, my foot would get straight in my pedal, I would be snappy, explosive, and fearing nothing. Other days I would be on the start line overthinking everything. If I had a bad sleep my reaction time would be slow, pre-period my head would be fuzzy, and some races I would be sat thinking of everything that could go wrong, miss my pedal and I would be a bike length behind before I had even made it two meters into the race.
In cyclocross, a bad start won’t necessarily lose you a race, but it will most definitely cost you lots of energy and put you on the back foot. As a young rider, before my bad crashes a crazy start didn’t faze me, I didn’t overthink it, the gun went, and I just went for it! The older I got the more thoughts came into my head and overthinking became a thing. More experiences are a good thing because you know what you’re in for, but you also remember the times a start goes wrong. Consistency creates habit and the more I raced the better at starts I got, however, at the European champs in 2016 at Pont chateau I had one of the worst crashes of my career off the start line, I smashed my face up, hit the gravel at 50kph on the first corner and ended up having 15 stitches in my lip. It knocked my confidence and it took me at least a year to get that ‘no fear’ mentality back. I remember coming back midseason after that crash and being scared to death of the start, I wasn’t focusing on anything else other than that one thing. I was hesitant and I was scared, and it took a lot of work mentally off the bike to get me in the headspace to fight for my race again. It was only after working with my psychologist ( Kristin Keim) I learned to begin reframe things, focus on what could go right and what I could control which gave me more confidence than I had before. There was a lot of start practice which went in to my training that year.
What I learned, what I wished I learned earlier ,and some tips for you ;)
The more you think, the worse it is.
Practice in training = progress in racing.
Pedal placement and gear selection is key, again something you need to work at in training.
Your space, your line, fight for it.
If it doesn’t go right, keep calm and carry on.
If you miss your pedal, don’t fret just pedal and eventually, you’ll get clipped in when the moments right
Think “Holeshot, holeshot, holeshot” Whether you get it or not, simply going for that one thing will help you focus on your race.
Realise Everyone feels the same
Do specific start sessions in training, and if you have a race coming up where you know the start then replicate a similar start in your off road sessions in the weeks before.
