As 2015 comes to a close it's the time of year to start filling up the calendar and start laying out a plan for the next year. At this point I've been perusing the NUE, H2H, MASS, and NJ Fatbike Calendars. The only thing certain at this point is that I want to have a better 2016 than 2015.
It seems more than likely I will be starting off with some Fatbike, some short track, then some 6 hours, then xc then NUE. Or something like that. There is something to be said about racing yourself into shape so that maybe part of the strategy. All I know is that I'm spending any downtime now prepping the bikes for next year and trying to lay out the next few months. I'm trying to throw a training camp in there and just lots of good miles and hours. Depending how this winter goes will dictate how my 2016 goes. Either way we are very close to daylight becoming longer and that's a good thing.
I'm registered for one race, waiting for registration to open on another race...and still waiting for my feet to thaw out from this weekend's riding.
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Wrapping up 2015
This was a crazy year for me. To not be too long winded...here's the jist.
After being hit by a car there was a ton of rehab and the shoulder finally feels good. I don't have to think about it for 95% of the tasks I do.
I did basically fall off the map as I moved from Bloomfield to Denville and that was an insane undertaking. Not only did I have to move all of my and my wife's belongings, but once we did make the move it was a few months of nonstop fixes, updates, and improvements to make life normal in the new house.
I did some racing here and there with the Wilderness 101 being the scariest race of my life. Since the move I rode close to 3 hours in the month during/after the move and left me woefully unprepared for the race. I got to the line and prepared to curl up into a ball on the first climb and weep for hours. Somehow I actually rode my bike, got up the big hills, broke my chain, converted it to a singlespeed, rode the last 30 miles wishing for gears and actually had a good time and decent result for what could have been a disaster.
The next notable race was the Shenandoah 100. This has been my nemesis and I was still unprepared for this one but at least I had a few weeks of solid rides under my belt for this. Unfortunately I knew I would need to take it easy to finish this one and it hit hard mid race. I remember going over the climb between aid 3 and 4 and just wanting to ride back to the start and end the misery. But I couldn't... I kept on - had an ok day - and finished up almost walking the final climb and being thankful that the last race of my mtb season was over.
Inconsistency was the name of this season.
I tried to get my mind wrapped around CX but I had more issues with this. My first practice I rolled a tubular. Tried a race and then rolled another. Tried the new Mariposa tape and that stuff is garbage. Gave up on tubulars. I used my backup bike for a bit with all kinds of shifting issues and got fed up with that. To tell the truth I was just having more fun riding my mountain bike then trying to get myself in shape to try and not throw up for an hour.
With the CX urge fading I did the next best thing. Get on my FAT BIKE! I have resisted the trend for a long time but I see what people are boasting about...somewhat. I still stand by the fact that snow riding sucks. Unless the trails are groomed. But for dirt riding the fat bike is a blast. With that I did some CX racing on my fat bike since it was much less of a headache and actually a lot of fun to race.
I competed in Hippo CX and Westwood CX on my fat bike and went 1st and 2nd respectively. What a great way to cap off the season.
For the off season I'm enjoying being fat. Weight wise - not bike choice. But with all this nice weather I'm starting to get a good game plan as to what is coming up for next season. Looks like a pretty diverse season with some fat bike, mtb, and cx races starting to fill up the calendar.
After being hit by a car there was a ton of rehab and the shoulder finally feels good. I don't have to think about it for 95% of the tasks I do.
I did basically fall off the map as I moved from Bloomfield to Denville and that was an insane undertaking. Not only did I have to move all of my and my wife's belongings, but once we did make the move it was a few months of nonstop fixes, updates, and improvements to make life normal in the new house.
I did some racing here and there with the Wilderness 101 being the scariest race of my life. Since the move I rode close to 3 hours in the month during/after the move and left me woefully unprepared for the race. I got to the line and prepared to curl up into a ball on the first climb and weep for hours. Somehow I actually rode my bike, got up the big hills, broke my chain, converted it to a singlespeed, rode the last 30 miles wishing for gears and actually had a good time and decent result for what could have been a disaster.
The next notable race was the Shenandoah 100. This has been my nemesis and I was still unprepared for this one but at least I had a few weeks of solid rides under my belt for this. Unfortunately I knew I would need to take it easy to finish this one and it hit hard mid race. I remember going over the climb between aid 3 and 4 and just wanting to ride back to the start and end the misery. But I couldn't... I kept on - had an ok day - and finished up almost walking the final climb and being thankful that the last race of my mtb season was over.
Inconsistency was the name of this season.
I tried to get my mind wrapped around CX but I had more issues with this. My first practice I rolled a tubular. Tried a race and then rolled another. Tried the new Mariposa tape and that stuff is garbage. Gave up on tubulars. I used my backup bike for a bit with all kinds of shifting issues and got fed up with that. To tell the truth I was just having more fun riding my mountain bike then trying to get myself in shape to try and not throw up for an hour.
With the CX urge fading I did the next best thing. Get on my FAT BIKE! I have resisted the trend for a long time but I see what people are boasting about...somewhat. I still stand by the fact that snow riding sucks. Unless the trails are groomed. But for dirt riding the fat bike is a blast. With that I did some CX racing on my fat bike since it was much less of a headache and actually a lot of fun to race.
I competed in Hippo CX and Westwood CX on my fat bike and went 1st and 2nd respectively. What a great way to cap off the season.
For the off season I'm enjoying being fat. Weight wise - not bike choice. But with all this nice weather I'm starting to get a good game plan as to what is coming up for next season. Looks like a pretty diverse season with some fat bike, mtb, and cx races starting to fill up the calendar.
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