Off Season
Am I enjoying my offseason? The question I get asked time and time again. The answer is a big fat YES! I finished up my season pretty tired, both mentally and physically and was looking forward more than anything for the opportunity to hang up the bike and reset my body and mind for a few weeks.
Its been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity to take such a long stint of time away from riding and training and I’ve appreciated every second. Being able to truly take time to rest, reset and recover after a tough 6 month season was pretty rewarding. I had a rough idea of how long I’d take off but didn’t set it in stone. The first couple of weeks are always more of winding down process, appreciating the last months and learning and absorbing the highs and lows of the season, it always takes me some time for my body and mind to fully switch off and begin that recovery process after so many weeks and months in ‘the zone’. I always think offseason is the perfect time to take some time to reflect on the previous season, evaluate what went right and what could be made better. I came to realise that trying to balance my season with the launch of the Mudiiita project actually took a lot more out of me than I had imagined. It was defiantly all worthwhile but with this, in mind, I decided to take some more time for myself and make sure that I was doing everything I could to get the best out of myself for the following season.
After some time I can finally let myself relax and switch off and fall into a nice routine of actually being a normal human being. Catching up with friends and family, and saying YES without the worry of how things will affect tomorrow or next week are just some of the small victories during the offseason. This alone is one of the major reasons I decided to step away from road racing - to give myself time to do these things and give myself chance to reset and make time for the important things.
Eventually, after 5 weeks I started to feel fresh, full of energy and ready to get back peddling. I always find myself having weird withdrawal symptoms of no exercise and no structure and I guess none of the usual stimulus of the racing season.
I’m already in full swing towards the 2018-19 season and have made quite a few changes already. I decided I definitely needed to put some more emphasis on my support team and have started work with a new coach, sports psychologist and dietitian. I feel like having this new group of people around me is really helping me find a little more balance in everything I’m doing and has been really refreshing already, having those extra few people around me gives me that extra energy I need to focus on the things that really matter.
I’ve also had some time to spend on our development plans. After numerous conversations with riders, parents and existing teams we have decided to change our plans with the idea of a Cyclo-cross Academy, we realised the need for another UK cross team wasn’t the best way to spend our resources. We instead are working on putting together some Cyclo-cross camps for young riders developing in the sport. We will look to bring together groups of riders to events in the UK and Europe and run on and off the bike training sessions with an experienced support team of coaches and riders.
I’m looking forward to be able to share more info with you soon on the precise plans once we have them all in place.
Ive also been working on a few new partnerships for Mudiiita and I’m really happy that we will be back again riding with Specialized Bikes in 2018/19 and have also teamed up with Kask who will provide the pro team with helmets for the following two years. I'm really happy about working with them both!
Hope everyone's season whether its pre-post or current is going to plan!
Until next time,
Nikki
