Ready for Mohican

Only 1 more day of training before I hit the air for Ohio. I'll get a couple days of preriding in Thurs and Fri before the race sat.
Don is driving over from Indiana to crew for me. This is going to be a huge help, since my better half is not making the trip.
Also have a roommate for the weekend from TX, Scott Henry. Yes, the same Scott that just won the marathon and xc state title in the pro class......my day just got a lot tougher. Scott also ran the Trek/VW TX region team, so I'm sure to meet a lot of people that have been around the cycling "scene" for some time.

It's official, I'm retiring........

......and moving to my mountain cabin in the North Georgia mountains. Where I'll sit on the porch with my dog and swill the moonshine from the still out back. In between rides of course!

Enough whining already!

.....the wind is my friend now, we have a little thing going, just us two. The weekends training was great. 4 hrs on the mtb Sat. was weather as expected, but felt super as I went on. Had a hawk fly right out on front me on the trails, so close I could have touched it. It continued on like this for about 20 yards before a break in the tree canopy sent it away. Also got up close and personal with the local cacti....right in the hip. I needed tweezers to pick those little bastards out when I got home.
4hrs on the road today started wet, as we got hammered with rain as we were to start. It let up, and was completely dry the rest of the day.......cooler too. The Team McAllen group never got out of the parking lot, so Rick from McAllen Sports and I headed out to McCook and beyond a ways. A punishing headwind made for good tempo work, and the trip home was fast with the tailwind.
Coach Sara has me feeling stronger once again heading into Mohican in 2 weeks. This course is said to be more technically demanding than Cohutta, with short steep climbs all day long........cool. Another climb starts the race before we hit the trails. At least I know what to expect now......pure pain from the gun.

The pursuit.......

....of that perfect day on the bike. It says it just under JF2R on the title. Lately my rides have fallen short. No, not because of the way have felt, even though the workouts have been even tougher lately. It's because of this damn wind! I know it's my only way to simulate the climbing I'll see at my races, but I'd rather ride "uphill" for 2 hrs than 30 min into the wind. At least I'd be in the mountains! If the wind was an animate object, I'd sock it right in the mouth!

It could be worse...

.....just when I start feeling sorry for myself having to ride in our lovely South Tex wind, you get news like that from last weekends Dirt,Sweat and Gears 12hr in TN. A lot of the guys from Cohutta were there, this time pushing their bikes for 12 hrs instead of riding them. Looks like what would happen if we tried to ride our trails when it rains. Just check out those pics! I'll take the wind any day instead of that mess.
2 great days of training put in on Sat/Sun. Mike and Glenn were along for both. Riding in the dark Sat. with just the funnel of light guiding me was a unique experience. Changing the routine up a bit was refreshing.
4hrs on the mtb yesterday had a new twist as well. Glenn showed a whole new route down to MT, with full on "little Mexico" areas I had no idea were there. Once we got to the trails, we split up and did our own pace.
Ran into Kyle as I departed for the hour ride back home.......Kyle ridin the new rig, a shiny new Trek 9.9 SSL. Super nice rig, I think he'll be more than happy with it.

lights and lycra

Hitting the pavement @ 4:45am with Padgett tomorrow for a 3hr session....maybe I can talk him into 4hrs in the dirt Sunday?

Back at it

Pretty much all recovered from Cohutta and back into my next big training block. Still have some lingering back stiffness and a little tight in the hammies, but back at it we go. As if coach hasn't been busting my butt enough, she's upped the intensity some more, so I can try and stay a little farther up front at Mohican. It was throw down time today with a set of pyramid intervals, and the wind really sucks right now, so it was that much more entertaining. Hey, it was my idea to race this schedule, I can only blame myself for the pain.