If I rode a horse, I’d be back on it now
Apparently I scared a few of you with my melodramatic blog entry last week. It’s true; it was a rough, long week. I have been so, so tired after getting back from Europe and then racing out to Northampton for our double race weekend. I rested all week the week that followed, and tried to get caught up on work, rest, and time with Janice. By Saturday I was starting to feel normal again, and oh so close to jumping in the car to head down to Highland Park for the UCI race down there. I really needed a break from traveling, though, and needed a local race to just find my legs again. I opted for the Plymouth South Cyclo-Cross race, where I was “Juniored” for the second time this year.
I started intentionally slow and tried to let the race happen on its own before I decided how ambitious I wanted to be. By then Gavin Mannion had 45 seconds on the group of 4 I was in, and since I was feeling ok, I decided perhaps I should start chasing. I turned on the gas through a technical, muddy, uphill section of the course, got myself free of the group, and put in 3 laps at full gas. I got the gap down to 20 seconds by one to go, but that was as close as I could get. I rode tempo for the last lap for a nice second place, but slightly annoyed with myself for not taking Gavin a little more seriously and going after him sooner. That kid is already something special, and I can’t wait to see how far his career goes.
After that I started training again for nationals in earnest, and I have to confess, I was not feeling it for a few days. My power is down, my energy levels are still low, we’re going through a big transition period at Cycle-Smart, and I just wasn’t ready for the world at all. Hence the melodramatic blog entry and a few days of only listening to Rocky Votolato singing about love, death, and Makers Mark.
JD Bilodeau reminded me today, though, that “the old ways are the best ways,” and that I should basically get my act together. This was the link he sent:
1979. It’s hard to believe how amazing it must have been to see Bad Brains in 1979. This isn’t even them at full speed, either. When they finally recorded this song, it was about 25% faster than this. Unreal.
I managed to get in 4 hours on the bike Tuesday and Wednesday, and felt better as the workouts went on. Tuesday night Janice and I had a little too much to drink at the Trappist beer tasting at Novare Res, and I’m sure that put a small dent in my recovery. But man, was it worth it. 2 oz pours of every Trappist beer, including all 3 Westvleterens from the bar owner’s personal stash. It was about 50 oz of beer, all at 6-13% ABV. I will confess to doing a little dumping during the tasting; it was just too much for me to put it it all down. I drank every drop of the Westvleterens, though.
I opted to rest Thursday, get my bikes prepped, and try to get my head in gear for the USGP events on Saturday and Sunday in NJ. I so did not want to go, and I was really worried that perhaps my long road season of chasing around the USA Crit Series title, capped off with the trip to Europe, was putting the nail in my coffin.
I tried to stay positive, and just put one foot in front of the other - literally. I’m sure you’ve all seen the photos and read the reports by now. Saturday I didn’t know what to expect from myself, so I just rode steady and consistent, and got a pretty mediocre result. I figured I was at my worst, and if this was me at my worst, it wasn’t terrible. Nothing to slit my wrists over, or beat my chest about.
Sunday I was even less motivated because so little seems to be at stake with the form I have, but sometimes that can be a good thing. Once the gun went off, I tried to get serious, and got a great start. All the UCI points I’ve missed out on this year has me starting in the 4th row, but I was in the top 10 going through the first turn. A few crashes and mistakes found me eventually 10 places back from there, but that was still 10 places further up than the day previous. When I looked around at one point and saw I was racing with Matt White, Bjorn Selandar, and my friend Chris Jones, I realized I was on a much better day. I was in the hunt for top 15 until about the last lap, when 2 quick crashes saw me lose the group for good. Riding the tape was always the hot line, and I like to stay on my bike if I can, but the trade off is getting your hoods caught in the course tape or a stake and going ass over tea kettle. I did that way, way too often. 22nd place was encouraging, though.
At least I was close enough to the front to finally get some pics again:
I had to include this one. Nick Keough. So emo he makes me want to cry, too:
Kids these days, I swear. So cute.
Today I felt amazing good. I’m sore, but energized. I had all but given up on any good form for the rest of the year, but now I realize the energy is still there. It’s too late to do a huge build up and have a peak for nationals like I hoped, and the next road season is already on the horizon. I really do need a break this winter. But I can see that with full recovery from the weekend, one big workout mid week, and then fresh legs for the following weekend, I’ve got some good performances left in me. Long Island this weekend, then Sterling, Palmer, Warwick, and Nationals. And then beer.
