Saturday, May 23, 2015

Summer is coming

For as many years as I've been racing bikes, I've learned that I just have to face the fact that I struggle in the first few races of the season. It just hurts out there. And even though I work very hard in the off season and feel strong as I start racing, the intensity of a race is just a huge wake-up call. This year was no exception and I actually struggled to even finish the 50mi Ridgeline race. It was brutal.


There was some redemption a couple weeks later as I lined up at the Desert RATS Classic out in Fruita, CO. The weather has been so crazy here in CO and pretty much every race has been postponed due to rain, but after neurotically checking about 5 different weather sites for 2 days straight, this was the only event with a possibility to even happen. And after being postponed for one day, it was on. (Even though we rode for 4 hours the day before, we were still excited to clean the bikes and race for 100k the next day!)



Although there wasn't a big field of pros out there it was a great event on some great technical terrain. I really prefer the more rugged trails out in Fruita so this was an ideal race for me as the organizers added in the Zion Curtain trail, which has some tough climbing and descending - as well as some great views!


I ended up taking the win out there, but the best part of the weekend was just being able to spend some time with a good friend, get some additional training in, and completely steal the 'boots' from Rob so my legs were nice and recovered.


As the heart of the season comes into view, I couldn't be more motivated. I have a new focus added to this season in the form of the NUE Series, which will only help in my quest to have a good day at the solo 24 hour worlds in CA in Oct. I'm also happy to say that - for the first time in several years - I can actually plan out the summer since I won't be traveling for 3 months outside of racing. I love what I do as a filmmaker as much as I love being an athlete, but the work travel has really effected me and I'm just looking forward to having a relatively normal life for a few months! I'm pretty disciplined when I travel, but the stress of trying to figure out a workout that will actually help in my training gets extremely challenging. There's just a lot that comes into play there and I'm happy to be able to be in the mountains for an extended time.



Well, it's time to go clean the muddy clothes and bike. However, before we know it Colorado will be hot and dry and we'll all be reminiscing about the time when we had three weeks of rain and the vegetation was a rich green...