I'm sitting here at my desk. Its Thursday. T-minus a day and half to the start of the Psycowpath season which means 2011 racing season is about to be officially underway. Its probably not smart, but I'll admit that I'm entering the season with a mild amount of trepidation. I'm hesitant. See for the last 4 seasons I've been a cat 2, I've gotten the routine down and no what to expect. I enter race day calm, self assured, and open to whatever happens. This year is going to be different. Since last year was a great year for me, it revealed potential I'm hoping to expand on. As such I feel the need to push myself more. I've put a little more pressure on myself to improve and deliver the results I would like to see. Maybe they wont' happen this year, but ultimately long term, I have some good hard but achievable goals. So with that, I'm not as easy going as I normally would be.
Additionally, swanson is one of my favorite races, but I seem to have a love/hate relationship with the course. Two years ago, I fell early in lap 1 and spent the entire race chasing and eventually got 8th. Last year, I had some travel woes the day before and only got arrived home at 1am the day of the race. I was fatigued and spent most of the race in damage control mode and ended up 8th again. In both cases the base miles and training to build a little top-end paid off. That said, those races were in May which meant I was always farther down the road in my preparation. This year things will be different, the race has fallen in early April which means at this point I really don't have a top end. I know lots of guys are faster than me. I'm also going to mix it up in the marathon category this weekend. So all in all lots of unknowns then.
Now, don't let this fool you, as always I'll do my best and see what happens. I'm not whining, I don't need moral support here. I'm being honest about the mild bit of apprehension I have towards starting off the season so early. Now if your also asking yourself, now hasn't he done Twin Bing which in years past has been the same approximate time? Well you'd be right, but for me that was always treated more as training than racing for me. For me the story is always the same: ride your bike, have fun, do your best, and see what happens. I have great support from my wife and friends, and this year we have I have the support of a great team which should help. So while I'm saying this today, on Sunday, when the kit is on and i"m lined up all those thoughts will be gone and its go time.
So as I sit here...mentally preparing myself to suffer this weekend..here's a couple updates from me for 2011:
1) If you haven't noticed I'm the new Psycowpath Series Points guy so contact me if you have issues with that.
2) I'm still racing for MWCC but I'll be in a slightly different jersey along with a few others..so keep on the lookout for that.
3) New road bike...review coming
4) I just put in for my upgrade so bu bye to Cat 2, hello Cat 1 XC.
Good luck to everyone this weekend and this season...have fun and keep the rubber side down.
J
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