I was off the wagon of blogging last year. I guess you could say I was burned out or maybe too busy with other things to have the time to write my about my tails and adventures. I intend to be back on track this year, hopefully more frequently and perhaps a bit less overall wordy.
The winter here in New England just doesn't want to quit. Early on it seemed not too bad of a winter with minimal snow and not terribly cold temperatures but the past month and half have been a real drag. It would have been better to have all this snow and icky weather back in January when we were anticipating it. Now with the race season about to get underway it's insufferable. So much so, I finally booked a short trip to visit my brother in Texas to escape. It's not till mid-April though so hopefully by then it means I'll be leaving when the weather starts feeling more spring like.
At any rate, I'm thinking maybe I subconsciously knew the winter was going to be bad and didn't plan any big races until June so I'm not sweating it too much right now. This season will be a bit different than the past several. I plan on staying more local and have stuck to my plan of taking a break from the 100 milers this year and keeping it at 50 milers, 100k, or 6 hour races. It seems funny to be sort of nonchalant about this plan as after many years of racing the 100s, half the distance is a piece of cake, right? But that was sort of the point. To change up the plan to keep it fun, and exciting and well challenging in a different. It's less distance so now I have to go faster or something like that.
I don't have my schedule set out in stone quite yet. Although I do have the general gist of it, at least which 'big' races I'll do and then fill in with lots of great local races organized through EFTA or Root66RaceSeries, that and hopefully some new grass roots races that I hope come to fruition. I have been training over the winter but I know I certainly don't have the fitness of years past coming into the season and that's ok. I think it will be nice to build into June when I will have a busy month with Bearscat 50 (6/2), Pat's Peak 6 hour race (6/8), followed by the Stoopid 50 (6/16) rather then feeling pretty tired already. I'll maybe take a weekend off after the Stoopid 50 and then check out a new race in Stowe, Vermont. (Both of my parents are from Vermont so I have an affinity for the state. )
July and August are a bit fuzzy now on the planning front. I hope to race the Carrabassett 65 miler 7/13 and find a teammate to do the 12 hours of Millstone 7/27. Early-mid August, I actually going to take a real vacation for once - one that does not revolve around a bike race. It will definitely include lots of riding but really truly just for fun. Once that gets panned out then I'll know what races I'll be hitting in August. Late summer, I'll do Treasure Valley Rally, Landmine 50 and Peak Adventures 6 hour race. Lots of good stuff on the plate.
I will still be racing for MTBRacenews.com which has been a great team. We have some awesome sponsors, Stan's NoTubes, Carborocket, Pivot, DNA Cycling clothing, Continental, Epic Brewing, among others. The website is a great source for all things mountain biking - race reports, coaches column/training information, product reviews and racer interviews.
So I can't believe it but the first race of my season is this Sunday - just a short time trial, but it hardly feels like it's time to be racing seeing as we got a few inches + of snow today :( It will be a good gauge of where the fitness is at or not at, but it's only March with plenty of races to come.
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