Since I stopped racing after Cascade, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on this season. Overall, I’d say it was really good. I raced more than ever and I accomplished my main goals, especially the most important goal: to upgrade. After upgrading, sandwiched between some pretty dismal performances, I somehow had two of my best races ever: a 7th place in the road race at Gate City Grind, and 15th at Silverton. I also smashed PRs for climbing–long climb, steep climb, and short climb. Here are some short highlights from training and racing:
- Seeing a guy chunk a cat during a race: I didn’t actually see him hit it, I just saw the aftermath of a cat doing a laid out 2 1/2 through the air. I presume the cat was dead before contact.
- Nature trying to take me out: A tree falling right in front of me, so close that I had to lock the brakes. A dog biting me. A boulder tracking me down a snow bank. A giant tumbleweed slamming me. A funnel cloud threatening.
- Climb records: Antles Road in 2:49 and Morgan Lake in 17:54.
- Extricating a guy from his awning. Good thing I was still there because almost everyone else had left and he would have been forced to gnaw off his arm to free himself.
- Starting up a local team: The boys performed beyond expectation. It was nice to be racing a traveling with the boys.
- Throwing up on my bike: Something I haven’t done since my 30-min hammer-downs in Texas, except this time it was literally on the bike. . .what a disgrace.
- Learning the art of being a tail gunner from the Zim master: I might expound on this more some other time.
- Racing 5 different frames in my first 5 races: This was due to some carbon crack issues. After that I was really confident in my bike build-up skills since I was racing every weekend and barely finishing the bikes in time for the next race.
- Warming up after a race: Stage 1 at Willamette ended with me getting into some dry clothes and hooping it up in the gym.
- Some awesome climbing in So Cal and No Cal.
Next season, I’m looking forward to a couple winter training trips to So Cal and then doing the Tour of Gila. I’ll then commence my endless summer by taking time off and starting training in the later summer for racing in Australia at the end of the year.
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