thirty-three days

...until the first race of the season!

You know how some people say, "I'm ready as I'll ever be"?  Yeah, I've said it myself a time or two.  It makes me think though.  Sure, you can't really be any more ready than you currently are, but in preparing yourself for something, you can put in more effort than you normally would... then you're MORE ready than you would have ever been...

Okay, that's talking in circles, but cycling is all about circles.

I've mentioned before how I've got only a teeny tiny itty bitty amount of time in my day to train.  Somedays, an hour is really hard to justify if I am behind on schoolwork or my daughter wants my company. That being said, if an hour is really all I have, then I need to make every minute of it count.  These past few weeks I've been going all out on focus and intensity (work ethics that I learned in high school marching band), and I'm hoping like hell that it's going to pay off.  In thirty-three days, we'll find out.

Just in case anyone didn't know what I was doing for training, I'm going to break the cyclists code and tell you, flat out, exactly what I'm doing.  Go to this link and it's right there.  That's it.  I follow the plan, and when it has advanced options, I do them.  If I feel like complete crap, I might skip a workout and add a little bit onto another day.  There's no need to do any "secret training" because it isn't about whether we are doing the same thing or not, it's about what we're putting into it.  I've got my marching band skills that I put in, how bout you?  All joking aside, I just thought I'd share that info because it would be rude not to.

First race on the schedule?  The King of Burlingame Time Trial.  I haven't done this race before, but I did some pre-riding there with my teammates the past two years.  Rumor has it that the course is going to be different this year, and I'm hoping that they're adding more technical stuff.  Time trials aren't really my thing because it takes me so long to warm up, but it'll be over quick enough that if I blow myself up a little bit, I shouldn't have to suffer for too long.

The following weekend is the first official race of the Root 66 Series.  It's technically a local race because it's in CT, but it's still a hike.  The race is at Hop Brook Dam, and if you're thinking of doing it, make sure you register in advance because they aren't doing any registration at this venue on the day of the event.

Final thought on this completely random blah blah blah blog...
I caught the 29er bug.  I want one.  Don't get me wrong, I love my Dragon, but when I see how effortless those big silly wheels roll over everything that I have to muscle over, I get a bad case of wheel envy.  I'm hoping that there are still some left in my size when I can actually come up with the money, and I'm hoping that's before August and the Hampshire 100.  It sure would be nice to have some big wheels for that one...  we'll see if the money tree I planted puts out any fruit by then. ;)