Where To Start

I suppose I could start with something new....like cyclocross. It's officially a few weeks into the season and finally, my legs are starting to come around. You'd never know it by looking at the results but my legs feel a little better each week, and just as important, so do my lungs. Unfortunately my bike handling skills could still use a little tweaking. Every time I put myself in contention to move up a little more, I'll do something stupid and go down. Although it's only once a race, it usually happens in the late laps when I'm exhausted and can barely see straight so as the fitness keeps on comin, the mistakes should disappear. Good timing too since moving up to Cat 3 requires as fast and clean of racing as I can manage. And that's just for middle of the pack for me on a good day. Still, the lines are getting easier to ride, the pedals are getting easier to turn, and it's getting easier to fight to catch packs.

One of the things that always helps the most is just racing. This year Routine Leg Works hosted a Wednesday night series for the first 5 weeks. The races were a little shorter on time which was great for a mid-week race. Great chance to see a lot of guys I only see in the Fall, go head to head, and work on fitness and skills without blowing out your legs for the weekend races.

Not sure if the link will work for me, but on Saturday I was starting to move up in the race (to mid-pack) and went down just before a barrier. I re-bloodied up my knee and dropped back to end up battling it out with Neal who's a strong rider that also happened to have a bad lap in there somewhere. Here's a shot of the two of us right after I passed him on the last lap.

http://www.sportifimages.com/Cyclocross2011/Blue-Sky-Velo-Cup-CX/SM-35/19555419_ZT9LWs#1534101400_GGdrtn6-A-LB

Unfortunately, my lead was short-lived since Neal got me back and held on. At that point we were literally battlling it out for something like 3rd and 4th from last place but still racing like it was for first and that's what makes it fun.