So six weeks have gone by, a couple more foot races against the kid, 1 win for me, 1 for the kid.
As some of you know, my Dad passed away 2/23, he was 78. While we always want more time, he was ready.
Thank you to everyone that reached out.
I spent ~50 of the first 60 days of 2017 in florida. Gotta say, living in a warmer climate doesn't suck, until returning.~
Never did get comfortable with the bike lane next to the 50mph traffic, so i mostly stayed on the sidewalks in that situation. But the paved trail system
is decent, with water and tool stations along the way. The wind can be relentless, and drop bars would have been nice, but it was more about the workout anyway.
Lots of stop-n-go with road crossings, and not getting killed by traffic turning across me, was a good workout on the SS.
My mileage and saddle time are higher than 2014-2016 rates, so trying to keep it going.
on the other side, my weight is the same as 2 years ago when i started this thread. right around 190. Clothes fit a bit better, but i'm still rockin' the rolls.
3 weeks to HOH. time to get serious?
I guess
serious started yesterday with Short Track #2. Raced the tallboy in b+ mode - mostly because i haven't built the 29er wheelset yet. Lined up in back with
@jackx said hello to
@ReggieHammond , and
@i ride after 5 (i glued a rock to his cleat when he was distracted.) - we rolled out, and being in the back really took the pressure off, because i knew no matter how fast i went, the left turn onto the single track in the woods was going to be a pinch point - and i'm not competing for the front. And pinch, it was. People off their bike at the first rock. i went around wide, and picked up a few spots. With the bike in b+ mode, the couple of slick sections were easy to navigate. lots of riders spinning out. There were three wide open areas to make a pass - and i took advantage of the one at the end of the lake/onto the road/back to single track to pick up a bunch of spots. I wasn't expending a lot of energy following the line of traffic. Caught a few more people on the jeep road near the camp building (short/slick climb onto road, into a fun dh) - and settled in. on lap 1/3/4 i took the tech line near the lake. lap 4 was a disaster, as i lost speed and panicked. Greg said that is where he closed on me, and i couldn't get away from him on the final lap, and he beat me at the line. I was about a minute a lap off the lead group times. both handling and fitness(less fatness?) would go a long way to closing.
so how'd i feel? Cold, then overdressed, tentative for the first couple of laps from no MTB in two months. I have no idea how to ride the high-berm switchbacks at speed. esp when they became muddy. I might watch the Crazy guys ride them next week.
of note - i managed to stay in front of Glenn and Burke - cause 1 is getting used to racing SS, and the other is getting used to racing gears....think i was 16/33, with #33 breaking a chain. #2ManyWatts4aKid
And back to HOH, which was the whole point of this thread. Can't remember what happened in 2015 that derailed it. 2016 was the rescheduling. So - 3 weeks to go. I'm going to get some climbing in, hopefully short track, and work the weight. The damn beer is so good, just compared to a couple years ago. Killing me. Oh, i can feel it the next day if i have 2 of the high alc beers. My body is def telling me something, i'm ignoring it.
Time to clean up the bike.