The Call of the Road

Ever since last January when the dark days of winter enveloped New England in more ice and snow and clouds than I care to remember I struggled with the decision of what to do with myself, bike racing-wise.

"Do I want to race road bikes?" Hells yes, but it either meant lots of trainer time (not a chance) or a late start to the season. Coming from the NCNCA and lots of fabulous early spring racing that was a hard concept for me to grasp. Additionally, I was a little spoiled coming from the NCNCA. I wanted a Copperopolis, a Wente road race, not some silly circuit race. Ignorant to the ins and outs of racing in New England, I didn't know what I wanted to commit to, to peak for, and how to train for it. Plus, I didn't have a team - I didn't even know who the teams around here were (still don't, I guess). So that inevitably lead to the question,

"Do I want to race mountain bikes?" This seemed like a fun option, given my lack of team and my obsession with east coast mountain biking. The biggest detractor here was cost. I'd have to buy my UCI license (which I'll have to get before CX anyway, but that's beside the point) and the entry fees are more than most road events I've done. My bike, as much as I love it, also needed some help - I'm currently running a 3 year old chain and cassette, and really, really need new tires. Like, really. It adds up.

Of course, one thing was not in question - Cyclocross. I knew whatever else I did I wanted to race 'cross. We have something like 15 UCI races in New England this year, and it's about $200 bucks to fly to Wisconsin in January (brrrrrr!).

Tonight I'll go race my first criterium if 2011. It also happens to be my second road race of the year, 3rd bike race, and probably my 5th competitive event of 2011. Whoa. I did more racing in my 1st year of racing, when I wasn't even sure I was a racer.

So what do I want to do next year??? The same questions/excuses/problems present themselves in answer.

Instead of doing 5 hour rides and spending more than I can afford racing my bike this year, I did lots of fun rides in the woods, went snowboarding, learned to go off a 4 foot drop, went downhilling, read a lot, ran a lot, raced a 5k and a duathlon, hung out with friends and family, worked on my core and upper body strength, watched a World Cup MTB race, watched a slopestyle competition (wow, spectating!!! When's the last time that happened?), played capture the flag, didn't stress about standing on my feet for prologned periods, didn't stress out about what I was eating (I still eat super duper healthy, but don't worry so much about what goes in the day before a race), established myself as a personal trainer through a highly regarded organization, went swimming as much as I could and went sailing. Probably some other things, too. It was rad. I've had a great summer and spring (pretty much everything since the snow melted). I've had time to do the things I never get to do in the summers, and spend time with people who are important to me.

But . . . every time I log onto Cyclingnews, or NorCal Cycling News (yes, I still check out, somewhat obsessively, what's going on in the NCNCA), and any number of blogs I read on a regular basis, I get this pang of longing. It's the same way I feel when I think about the mountains to the west of Reno, or my friends and family who aren't on the east coast, or Cody when one of us is away for a few days. I miss road racing the way I'd miss a person, or a significant and dear geological feature (haha).

So I'm not making any promises or commitments. I'm not saying I'm going to race a full season of road. (I AM going to race a full season of cyclocross, which may or may not include nationals.) I'm not positive I'm ready to give up having another summer of frivolity. I just want to put this out there as a reminder to myself, come January, what it will feel like to spend another season off the road. Maybe the commitments will come then, or maybe sooner, but it's good to get it down, sort through the pros and cons and how I feel about it.

Getting Started

Finally, those NEBRA/NEMBA people got the race calendars up! I guess there's no hurry when things don't get going until April, but I'm a compulsive planner, so I was chomping at the bit to start planning. There you have it! My 2011 Road/MTB season plan. It's only 15 races, between road and mountain, one stage race, and a two-day double century that I may or may not do. I'd have to raise $2500 to do it, which I don't think is too hard once you start asking around, but there's also a World Cup in Windham, NY that weekend that I'd really like to go watch. So we'll see. Maybe I'll just do the one day century for which I'd only have to raise $150. I dunno, gotta think it through. Plus, it's on my birthday, so maybe I'll just sit on the beach and drink margaritas. But I'd really like to do the double.

Anyway, having a light summer of racing will be good for doing a heavy fall of cyclocross. The team I raced for (in all 5 of the CX races I did this fall . . . ) might be getting some sponsorship to try to go to all the USGPs, plus I'd really like to go to Nats in Madison, since it's a lot closer than Bend. Probably really freaking cold, too.

What else? Oh yes. I woke up this morning to a house full of smoke because Cody had put some wet logs ON TOP of the wood stove to dry out, then went to work. The logs then caught on fire. Yeah. No worries, I tossed the logs into the wood stove before they could catch the walls on fire. Yay. Anyway, the house is now wicked smokey, despite shivering with the windows open for an hour.

And . . . Cody starts his job on Monday! Which everyone knows by now, but I'm super psyched so I thought it deserved another mention. And I'm applying for MassHealth today - that's right, a public option subsidized healthcare plan. I'm totally happy to pay taxes to help support that, even if I had health insurance through my work, which I don't, since I'm part time. Anywho.

I feel like all these posts sans pictures are pretty boring. I mean, words? Who's interested in that? But I've been remiss in taking photos lately, so I'll have to find something random and fun to put in for entertainment effect.

Okay, well, turns out I have nothing random and fun, so here's what you get.

This is the creek behind our house barn. It's tidal, so salt water, and sometimes it's just a big mud flat during low tide. People, mostly crusty old guys, dig clams out of it. Right now it's covered in big floating chunks of ice. This is a picture of one of Cody's brothers jumping into it in January of last year, when it was not covered in ice, but was still pretty freaking cold. Anyway, it's great in the summer. I really want it to be summer.

And this is the barn. This picture's a couple years old, and it's had some repairs done to it since then. The Cedar Rock Farm sign is new and is actually cedar, and the door to the right was torn down and a wall put up, because the door didn't open. We live above the lower part - you can kind of see the doors-to-nowhere in this picture. The doors were replaced when we moved in, too.

Anyway, I got to sit in on a training session with Lyne Bessette yesterday. She and her husband Tim Johnson live nearby, and they train with this guy who's the head trainer at MAC, where I work. It was super informative, because he told me stuff like, "now, with Lyne I can get away with this, because she's an athlete, but for most people you need to start a little slower." And he had to do some modifications because she has a bum shoulder, probably from something like this:

I got out for a ride outside the other day. Just one hour, but it really felt nice to ride outside. Otherwise, lots of running, lots of cross training. I've been training a lot with TRX, which is way fun and I totally recommend. My hamstrings and upper body are totally feeling the effects right now. Anyway, not sure it will make me a better bike racer, but it never hurts to be stronger.

Okay, must do something productive with my day . . .

2010 'Cross Season Goals

Well, with the first 'cross race of the season only two days away (weeee!!!) I think it's time to set a couple of goals for this fall. Goals provide me with a measure of how successful my season was, and give me something specific to work towards. Let me preface these by saying that I think I'm a much better cyclocross racer than road racer (that's not boasting, since I'm not a very good road racer). See, on the road I'm not really a climber (too big) and I'm not a sprinter (too wimpy). I'm a decent time trialist, but had kind of rough year for that in 2010. Now, 'cross? That's more my style. Climbing ability isn't a huge deal, you just need to be strong, and rarely does it come down to a sprint. It requires good bike handling skills in the dirt, which I have (decent, anyway), and crashing ain't such a big deal since you're rarely going super fast (no 45 mph descents in a 100+ person pack). I'm okay with crashing in the mud or the sand, no big deal. Plus, it's a short race, and I can always convince myself to suffer for 45 minutes. No prob.

(That said, I love road racing and I think I make a good teammate to the sprinters and the climbers. I'm there to work when I can, and then I get to show what I've got in the time trial. Love stage racing. Love it, and have lots of plans brewing for 2011 road season.)

So anyway, I had to preface it with that, since I think my goals sound a little overly ambitious. Whatever, if I don't succeed, try try again.

1. Top 20 at a UCI race. Hell, if 19 women show up and I come in 18th, that still counts.

2. Don't get lapped, ever. (barring, of course, major mechanicals that force me to run 1/2 a lap).

3. Win a regional race. Doesn't matter what, but I'd like to have a W to show for my season.

Okay, that's it. Oh yeah, ride fast and have a metric shit-ton of fun. Hells yeah.