WetLeather Motorcycle Rider Information

Expectations, confidence, and performance.

In June I went to Roseburg for a match. I was entered in two classes. One of the goals is to shoot fast but also be accurate. Your time is your score. If you are not accurate time gets added to your final score.

I shot the first stage and had a D (+3 seconds) and a couple of C's (+1 second). Continued to the next two stages and just didn't think I had it. Last year I was 5th and 2nd and felt good doing it. I had practiced almost two straight weeks for this.

Afterwards I shuffled back to the Jeep and started adding up my scores. I had to add them 4 times because these scores were very good. Contrary to how I felt I had actually improved my scores in both classes by 10-15 points from the previous year. That led to a 1st and a 2nd.

I just got back from Shelton, WA and had a similar experience. At the first stage I got incredibly frustrated with how it was being run. Stood around for 50 minutes while they let walkups shoot in front of me. Finally got up and had a couple of D's on one of my guns. Really thought I had dropped the competition at the beginning. Finished up the match and walked back to the car. I knew Julie would ask how I did. Was going to say average but I knew that was not true. Knew I had did above average. Wasn't pleased but handed her the sheets to add up while we were driving back. I was amazed the scores were within a couple of points of Roseburg. Had to calculate myself when we stopped for lunch. Punched into last years Shelton scores that would be a 1st and a 2nd.

It is good for me that I am a "press on regardless" type of person so I could continue to try my best even though I thought I had already blown it. A wash, so to say. However, I will at some point need to figure out how to eliminate the initial feeling of doom. It may be as simple as writing down performance goals, raw numbers, for each stage that I can immediately compare against.

As always there is room for improvement. The speed I am going feels slower than hell. So removing the extra 11 seconds due to inaccuracy is a good goal.

As always will have to practice. For the mind and the body.

--bjet