3 Weeks to Go!!!

So with three weeks to go until Warrior Creek I sit here debating what to do today since the monsoon has hit. The snowstorms were nice since I could still get out and ski or ride through the snow but rain just blows... There's no way of getting around it. My weekend was supposed to be a 5.5 hour ride today and a 2.5 hour ride tomorrow. In anticipation of the rain I did get out and rode extra on Monday and Thursday to get my miles in and not have to do a long road ride in this mess. Of course that means that regardless I still have to get out tomorrow for a nice rainy ride. At least the roads will be free of salt and my steel LeMond can breathe a sigh of relief as the frame will stay intact a while longer.

So tomorrow morning I will be getting a few hours in to cap off a nice build week before heading into the city to catch a show. I might as well make a good weekend of it regardless. As training progresses - it's been an amazing year thus far. Consistency is still the name of the game. I'm over 30 hours ahead of last year and almost double the mileage. Of course with all this base training I've been itching to open it up and feel the early gains. A few of my teammates and I did a nice 70 miler last weekend up to Bear Mountain and did a few hill repeats. On the one repeat I decided to blow it out a little and just open my legs up. It felt GOOD!!! Working on my form, power transfer, and HR intensities have made all early indications point to a great upcoming season. Even in my local training rides I just feel quicker and that my endurance is increasing. I've done some pretty hefty back to back rides and in the past I'd feel pretty drained on day two and that really hasn't happened this year. That's awesome - especially since I'd like to start transitioning to stage racing in the next year or two. Good things ahead.

And to keep on the diet and weight update, things are going well there too. I hit the scale this morning and I hit a new low - 149.8 lbs. I've been doing well in general with my diet as far as cutting excess calories and keeping down the sweets. Well except for my couple of dinners this past week or so at the Cheesecake Factory, Applebees, and Hooters. I gotta treat myself a little bit right? :-) So that goal of racing at 152 this year seems like it needs to be revised as it is definitely possible and racing at mid to high 140's. As they say, it's all about power to weight ratio right?

From what I've heard of riding reports, the trails down in NC are in decent shape which will make for a great early race and start to my spring break. Trails will still be mushy here for at least a week or so now. So I'm looking forward to hitting that dirt stuff again. I was going to break out the singlespeed for the 6 hours if it was muddy but it looks like it will be the debut for my superfly. I guess I should actually get on that thing one of these days and set it up for racing. That will be part of the process in the next 3 weeks. And set it up tubeless and whatever other details I have to hammer out. Either way, I'm getting excited!!!