Your First Race
Vital Mental preparation

So you’ve tuned-up your gear, practiced your moves out on the water for a while, and now you’ve decided that it’s time for you to test out your skills on the racecourse. With your technique and tweaking now second nature, Kurosh Kiani helps with some essential psychological tips for your first race experience.

Blasting around a course is much more fun than you think, but it’s also important to have some things set straight in your mind before you head out for a public beating. Top racers have a really calm mind and manage to have an overview and keep perspective of what’s going on in their surroundings constantly. See it as learning how to drive. In the beginning it can be a bit intimidating, and there are a couple of things that you need to get under control before you’re relaxed on the roads.

This month we’ll look at a couple of routines I go through in my head before heading out to race, at either local or World Tour level. As in many other situations, it’s always best to divide things up in smaller chunks.

Pic JC/PWA