2011 Race Season Recap/ Update

I didn’t do too much racing in for the 2011 season.  I made a goal for myself last winter to ride at least 12 hours a week.  I was doing this had some great fitness up till January when I got sick.   It was bad strep throat or the flu not sure I didn’t go to the doctor but I had a high temp and my waking HR was around 10 beats over normal for about a week.  I was sick for about 2-3 weeks till the sore throat went away and I felt safe to ride again.  I started to build some fitness again but I seemed to loose it again in spring when I started working more.  I was cleaning ponds for work and it was labor intensive; spring is the biggest season for pond work.  So during spring I was exhausted and only riding 2-4 hours a week.  I didn’t start getting reasonable hours of training in till mid summer when I wasn’t working as much.  I was feeling like my normal racing self toward the end of summer.  Of the  5 races I did only had fitness for the last one.  This is the least amount of racing I have done in a year since I was 18.

I have made a lot of excuses for my bad race year.  At the end of my 2010 season I said 2011 would have less excuses; I failed on that goal. For 2012 I plan to put a bit more preparation and planning in to having a successful season.  I've just purchased a new bike that I will only use for racing...

It is the same size and geometry as my current bike just 4 lbs lighter and made of carbon and lighter parts.  The weight savings will be nice but the part that I think will help me the most is having new unworn parts that are less likely to fail during a race; fresh tires, fresh drive train and fresh cables.

 I normally have the mentality that don’t replace things till they break.  I have gone into races with very worn tires and frayed cables which has probably resulted in more than my fair share of race mechanicals because of it. No more!

For training starting on Dec. 10^th team mate Jeff Dickey and I (plus whoever else wants to join) will be riding the MO CO epic loop.  It’s a 62 mile mostly off-road ride that goes through 9 different parks in the Southern MD area.  We plan to do it every Sunday (weather permitting) till race season starts.