Wow.

My 1st Masters crit. At the Rodale fitness park. Every one is absolutely right; these guys are FAST. I got kicked out the back about 2 laps in and at that pace I could never catch back up. Got pulled after 5 ish laps. DFL.
Note to self. Try as hard as you possibly can to stay in the pack.
On a positive note, the tubies ride and spin great.

It's been a while.

I've been doing intervals now for 3 weeks. I figured it's probably a good idea since I have a race on Sunday. ....
Anyway. The weather a week ago was absolutely phenomenal. This week? Not so much. Still got some good sessions in. My legs have been feeling fairly good except for today. Tabata intervals are killers. I was lazy and had World Cup glue my tubies; I wouldn't have had time this week and I want them for the race PLUS I wanted the wheels checked out by someone who knows what they're doing.
I hope to at least hang with the pack on Sunday. It's my 1st Masters crit and I know it'll be faster than the 5's were, but hopefully, a bit less sketchy. At least Kevin Breckenmaker will be there; a familiar face. Or ass, depending on where I'll be.....
And some good news, I think/hope. Sarah's new soccer team won't be playing a tournament over Iron Cross weekend PLUS their tournaments are late summer so it shouldn't interfere too much with cross season, although the league games are on Sunday, I think, so we'll have to see. Maybe I'll finally get to do Granogue?

Well. That was BRUTAL.

Fawn Grove Roubaix. 40 miles of undulating roads (not too different than here) and dirt and gravel. My 1st Masters race AND 1st road race. Beautiful day, got there in plenty of time for a change, forgot my pump (no biggie-borrowed one), rode instead of using the trainer to warm up. We lined up next to last group. Went off at a not too insane pace. I kept to the back of the main group, and then we hit the gravel. I rocked it. Too bad I can't climb to save my life. Before long things got strung out. I was in no man's land. Off the back of the main group but in front of the really slow guys. I would make up time on the gravel sections and decents but lose time on the climbs. A bunch of the 4/5's caught me but not a lot, as well as the Pro 1,2,3's who lapped me. No biggie. I have no idea where I finished. Not 1st but not DFL either. Mission accomplished I suppose....
I'll do it again for sure. It was fun in a painful sort of way. My wheels and tires worked great-no flats and my wonderful French bike smoothed out the gravel quite nicely.
I guess I'll find out the placings tomorrow on line. I hope it's not too bad.

Pro. Or no?

So I'm going up my driveway, out to do my hill workout. As I'm going up, I see Amy, the oh so hawt yes she's my age and she puts women 1/2 her age to shame going up the road. She says "Hi". I say "hi" back. Being "Pro", (ha!) I;
1) exchange pleasantries and go on my way to my sufferfest
2) offer to ride with her for a while and THEN do my sufferfest.
Yes, I choose #2. I'm not stoopid, you know. It was nice to ride with someone for a change, especially someone as nice and good looking as Amy. I still got to go out and head up Andersontown road, then continue up Mountain road, up to Roundtop. That is a nice, grinding climb, with a few little breaks. I'm feeling pretty good on the bike right now. I'm about 200+ miles ahead of last year's mileage total, which is good.
I don't know what to expect with the road race coming up in April. 40 miles. Some climbs, and dirt! Yay! And now I'm FINALLY out of cat5, up to cat4 so now I can race the Masters, which I'm sure will kick my ass. At least I'll see some familiar (older) faces; Bob Perna, Gary Kelly, and others I'm sure from cross.
Oh. It's a good thing I looked at my bike after the ride. My rear tire is through to the belt. Put the Kendas on today. It's always good to have spare stuff laying around....

I love where I live.

Beautiful winterish day. No clouds; minimal wind. Cold, but since there wasn't much wind it wasn't bad. Wore my favorite winter jacket (ok, my ONLY winter jacket), Hind tights, HUP booties, and my cheapo Nashbar winter gloves with liners. It was 20-25F when I started.
The wind is stilll cold, but the sun is feeling like spring. I headed out towards Pinetown road, Silver lake, and Roundtop. Saw that little ski zit against the blue sky. I must say it was quite nice. Appears to be lots of (manmade) snow. I got a good 26 miles in, felt pretty strong and generally had a great ride. Looking forward to tomorrow when I'm off so I can get an easy, long ride in.
Did I mention I only saw about 6 cars the whole friggin ride?
THAT is one of the BIG reasons I love to ride out there.

I didn't plan for THAT.

It was windy today but I didn't think horribly so so I went out for a ride, figuring I'd head into it as much as possible and then have it at my back on the way home. Everything was going according to plan, got to stop at the bank en route, and then go on. It was Not TOO bad until I got to the other side of Mechanicsburg and then it was hitting me HARD from the right side; I'm sure the bike was leaning. Made a left turn on Stumpstown road and life was wonderful; wind at my back. I crest the hill on Lisburn road, look to my left and it is dark as night. Looked like a storm was coming so I put it in TT mode and hammered. No luck. It hit me going down McCormick road. Snow, sleep, maybe some rain. Epic. Blasting along at 27 mph or so with the wind at your back is kind of fun, except when your face is being pelted with sleet and who-knows-what. Fortuinately, I was only about 15 minutes from home. I get about a milke away from home and it's effing DRY. Still hasn't done anything (1.5 hrs later). Oh well. That which doesn't kill you....

1st ride on ageared bike in 09?!

Ok. Except the cross race. My KG felt light and smooth as ever. I'm thru with running and weights; it's ride baby, ride. I'm doing it bit different this year (don't I always?) and not doing intervals or lots of weight training before my very limited summer racing season. I think I did too much last yr but also didn't do enough miles. I'm going to do a few races this summer and then do the intervals/plyo program a bit earlier this yr without the 3 in a row interval sessions. At least, that's the plan now.