Doing things a little different for 2012

This year: no coach, no rigid structure, no staring at tiny screens just hoping it will finally display that magical number, just fluidity.

This past cx season I noticed that I was able to train at a higher level without focusing on the numbers.  Instead, I based everything on feel.  Maybe this was stupid and foolish but I feel it left me in a better place physically and, more importantly, mentally.  The few times I did hop on a road bike and actually measure power during cx season I was blown away by the quality of the workouts I'd been doing.  I'd never been able to hit some of those numbers on the road but somehow I was hitting and exceeding them with shocking consistency.  The reason for this:  I actually enjoyed riding and racing my bike again.  I was no longer attempting to fight a schedule and hammer out an interval when everything was falling apart around me.  That is the model I am going to take into the 2012 race season.  Yes, I will write a schedule but if I feel like doing intervals on Tuesday instead of Wednesday then Tuesday it is.  So often racers become so focused on their prescribed schedules they forget why they're even doing it.  We do this because we love racing.  We love pushing ourselves and we love the feeling of going out there knowing we're trying to be better than we were before.  No one is paying us for this so why don't we all just take a few deep breaths and enjoy ourselves.

This year I will be there at the finish.  No more off-the-back in the first 8 miles.  No more trying to will myself to get over just this one more hill.  No.  This year I am going to be there.  I make no promises as to winning races or obtaining my Cat 1 upgrade but I will be there for my teammates, turn myself inside out for them and use my brain and legs to be as close to the front as I can.  All of that aside, I'm going to have fun and I'm going to enjoy every mile.  Like I said, we're not paid so we may as well enjoy this silly sport if we're going to spend as many hours on the road as we do.

Psycho Cross Day 2

This is going to be a short one.

The weather Sunday was awesome, 60 degrees, sunny and just a light breeze.  We had the pleasure of enjoying that right up until about 30 minutes before the A race went off.  In that half hour leading up to our race the clouds rolled in, temperature dropped to 45 and the rain settled in.

One of the reasons I enjoy these small races is for what happened next.  As all six of huddled under shelter trying to stay warm the official proposed a shorter race if we were feeling it.  After a short discussion we settled on a laps.  The faster we rode the faster we finished.

Ross Brody led through the first single track section, I sat second wheel and that's where I finished the day.  Without even trying I managed to finish second overall .  I definitely would have preferred first but hey, all in time.

Psycho Cross Day 1: Good Result, Crap Legs

It was a week of essentially no training and I was loosing motivation.  Fast.  As I type this I have 15 days and 4 races left in my season.  I had to race this weekend, if for no other reason than to remind myself I can still ride a bike somewhat fast.

Psycho Cross/OBRA State Champs: A New Way To Race Bikes

all photos courtesy of Will Sullivan Cycling

Over the past few seasons of both road and cyclocross I've gone into every race with a clean bike, a well prepared body and a plan.  I've been doing a little experimenting this season.  Part of it is out of laziness, time constraints, motivation and the willingness to try something new.  I didn't really plan it, it just kind of happened.

Awesome Photo

Normally I just tack photos onto the related post but I feel this one deserves its own post.

photo credit to PDX Cross for this one

PDX Cross always seems to put out an awesome set of photos each week.  This is easily one of my all-time favorites.  Thanks for being out there each week and providing free photos for all us cheap-asses!

Cross Crusade P.I.R.: I Got My Legs Back!

Sometimes it's just faster to run
(photo courtesy of Dave Roth)

Last Cross Crusade of the year and I pull the second-to-last number callup.  Not necessarily how I wanted to round out this year.  Before my race a teammate asked me if I was going to win.  Ha, not really a chance of that, but heck, I'll go out there and see how many people I can pass.  Have fun and pass people, that's all I was looking for today.

I raced this course two years ago at the USGP and it has always been one of my favorite courses.  Today was my chance to revisit that awesome course.

Edgefield CX: I like my bike again

The past few week have been kind of rough on the racing front.  First there was the flat at PIR then the next week I got turned into a speed bump, then the following day I flatted again.  Needless to say, I just wanted to go out and finish a race without anything happening.  That's what the Bend/Halloween races were for.  I didn't fo well but I got my confidence back that I can ride a bike without crashing, flatting or doing something stupid.  Plus, when you're dressed as Kermit the Frog it's hard to have a pissy attitude.

When this week rolled around I knew this was kind of the make-or-break for the season.  If I did well/put up a good fight then I knew I could keep racing for another month.  If not, then well, I'm pretty much just one more person on the startline.