mattm

Oddly, I couldn't find a "2017 goals" thread.

So, what were your goals, and did you meet them?

Or were they fleeting dreams?

topflightpro

And what were your goals?

globecanvas

Well... I didn't crash!

Radish_legs

my goals:
1) first in Tuesday C crit
achieved

2) first in Thurs C crit
not achieved (2nd place) - did not race after May

3) 300w FTP
not achieved (earlier max this year was just south of 290w)

prj71

My goal was to ride my bike in 2017. That goal has been accomplished.

mike868y

I really don't remember what my stated goals were. After years of letting myself down with race results it was probably some vague BS. That being said, besides winning I race I definitely accomplished anything that would have been a goal (big fitness jumps, a couple podiums, earning the rest of my points for a 2, had fun). Goals for next year are pretty clear: win a race before new england critweek and upgrade to the 2s for that (racing fitchburg as a 2 has been a long term goal of mine for...years)

Ttoc6

Goal was to compete at Collegiate Nationals. I didn't have a place in mind, just wanted to go before I graduated. I also wanted to start accumulating some points towards my cat 2.

I did both of these things, but collegiate nationals was more or less a bust from a racing standpoint.

Next year I need more measurable goals. In the process of defining those still. I have goal races, but need to put some better expectations on myself.

mike868y

hah, col nats has been a goal of mine for years. qualified for the RR this year but didn't feel it was worth it without qualifying for the crit as well. also it comes at a really bad time in the semester and school has to come first at this point in my life. maybe once i'm done classes i'll make it work.

furiousferret

Just getting back on the bike and back to normal. That's kinda been achieved, I'm still too nervous to sprint but I'm sure that'll happen soon.

As some know I crashed last Christmas Eve and that more or less cost my 2017 season, which was a shame because at the time I was really confident and had my best power numbers across the spectrum.

A lot of people just check out and quit after their first major accident; keeping at it is a big accomplishment.

Wylde06

I dont remember what all of my goals were, but 2 of them were to win a race in the spring series and get all of the points needed to upgrade to cat 3 (came into the year with 0 ).

My best result in the spring series was 4th. Top 10 in all of the 4/5 races though.

That was my only race where I got any points, so im still a ways away from cat 3.

Heathpack 

I had a crazy year, family illness that I needed to attend to, corporate takeover of my practice and bilateral cataract surgery. So I wound up with one goal for the year: win the SoCal/Nevada State TT, which I did.

TT season starts here Oct 1, that's my first race of our season. My goals this year are to beat my racing Nemesis once and defend the State TT Championship. Lol it will be harder to beat my Nemesis probably, we can only hope she breaks a rib somewhere in the season. (Kidding, I'm lucky to race with her, I like her and she always puts up a good time for the course/conditions, a great person to chase.)

It's impractical for me to go to Nationals but if the dates work out, my plan is to race the Western Regional State TT Championship Series (something I made up): SoCal/Nevada, NoCal/Nevada, Utah and Arizona.

dz_nuzz

I remember mine.

Win a race as a 1: Accomplished
Win the State Champ Jersey: Accomplished
Win the New England Regional Jersey: Failed
Get top 20 in the GMSR Cat 1 field: Accomplished (Barely)

Overall not bad. But I really am itching to get the New England Regional Champ win and I feel I should have worked harder / smarter and gotten a top 10 in GMSR.

gsteinb

win every race I enter - fail
win a RR, Crit, Hill Climb, Circuit race - fail
win the NYC summer series - fail
win a race in each month of my season - fail

arai_speed

Those are almost the exact goals I had! The only difference would be to change NYC to SoCal.

hubcyclist

didn't come into the year with any goals, i don't think, or if I did they went by the wayside really quickly. hasn't really been all that great overall, didn't get to get out very much, mainly just focused on trainer stuff. on the positive side, I have done 2 CX races, after having done no racing in the prior 2 years, so I've got that going for me at the moment. Hopefully can do 10 races this year and be a 4 in at least one discipline lol

mattm

we still love you

Ygduf

be mediocre - check
collect team invites from TB, Peets, Specialized, Olympic Club and Terun - check

at least I'm liked. Or everyone wants to have a fat guy around to make themselves look thinner...

topflightpro

But no Mikes?

I thought that was Matt's job?

mattm

I had to quit base training early in January to go to Bama three times and take care of my dad for about six weeks total - so I had pretty low expectations once the season actually started for me. But if anything I think that 'rest' helped me have a stronger season overall.

Low-level goal was just to win something. The last few seasons I've won at least one p/1/2 race, and I wanted to keep that streak going.

The bigger goal was to win something that wasn't a Red Kite crit (local/small crits nobody really cares about, with small fields). The Red Kite crits are real USAC races, but not attended by many, with fields of 25 at most these days.

So I wanted to win a p/1/2 race that's a "classic" - at least in the sense of only held once a year and is attended by the local heavy-hitters. And I did! (Suisun Harbor, Golden State Circuit, Colavita GP)

Also ended up as the #1 in the local p/1/2 BAR, surprisingly. I was 4th last year in that one. It's not a huge deal, but doesn't hurt.

I think I say this every year, but I should probably start upping my goals.

Ygduf

I know. I don't get it. They have an army of slow dudes though, so maybe they don't need me :/

topflightpro

My 2017 goals were a bit up and down.

* Get my weight under 158 - I did this. But then I started lifting and my weight is back up.
* Finish in the fields at Masters Road Nats - Scrapped going to Road Nats all together.
* Try track racing - Not only did I try it, I've decided to stick with it. I won the Mass Start C-series overall, got upgraded to Cat 3, and raced competitively at Masters Track Nats.

All in all, it was a pretty good year for me.

I did add some other minor goals on the track that I am still trying to hit, but I have one more race on Saturday.

Radish_legs

I forgot my one major goal at the start of 2017, what I typed earlier was a revision that I did later in the year:

To finally do a race.
achieved.

spectastic

1. win one of the local crit series (success)

2. didn't crash (f*ck yea!!)

3. upgrade to cat 2 (finally)

4. win some races (success)

5. get my FTP up to 300+ (pretty much there for my 20 min, next is getting my 1 hour normalized to around that)

overall, I'm pretty happy with my season, given the circumstances of grad school.

rubiksoval

I don't remember too many specific goals I had. Probably to not suck in big races, which I still did. Oh, I wanted a top ten at nats. That didn't happen.

I don't feel that great about this year. A lot more downs than ups. And even my ups were just "eh" ups. I'm pretty tired of doing well at mediocre races. They just don't really matter. I don't think I'll do many next year and just save my money for big races.

I think this was a learning year. Next year my goals will be a bit more ambitious.

carpediemracing 

My goals were to:

1. Get a license. Check.
2. Do some Tues Night Crits. Check.
3. Maybe one weekend race (Fri night Kermis counts). Check.

I hoped to finish some of the races competitively. Did so on a couple occasions on Tues, placed in the one Sunday race I did this year. I learned 35 hours from Jan is just a bit too little for racing but that 50 hours is enough for me to place in a Sunday race.

Next year I want to do the earlier season Fri Night Kermis, the state champs (Nutmeg State Games), and the New Haven GP. I'd like to be competitive enough to finish, versus "2 laps is fine". We'll see how that goes.