What a great weekend! The weather is finally turning around and we’re seeing lots of warm, sunny, dry days. Bout time. It’s been nice enough that I’ve actually started thinking about finally getting dirty and taking the mountain bike out; off road even. It really can’t come soon enough considering my first mountain bike race is in less than two weeks. I think my fitness is there but I’m sure my tech skills are going to suck. Hopefully I’ll be able to squeeze in 4-5 mountain bike rides into the next two weeks. Thankfully, the first race is on my old stomping grounds so I know the terrain very well. Well enough that I can practically ride it in my sleep but its tricky enough that if you’re not on your toes at all times it’ll throw your bitch ass to the ground before you’ve even had a chance to say “oh shit!”. A couple of good rides there should get me dialed in. I hope.
Ok, back to the weekend. Saturday started out as any typical father/homeowner’s would. Run to the dump, ordered up a load of mulch, started hauling wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow loads of mulch and crushed stone to get the planting beds into shape etc, etc. At 1, after putting in some good sweat equity time, I decided to take B out for a spin in the trailer. I only expected to get a half hour to forty five minutes in before she rebelled but thankfully, after about ten minutes she drifted off to sleep which allowed me to get in a very nice 1:40. We stayed close to home so that if she woke in a funk we’d be able to get home quick but thankfully I never really needed to use the escape route. We hit every hill in the immediate vicinity and I got a pretty good workout taking it pretty easy on the flats and powering up over the hills.
Sunday morning I was greeted with near freezing temps for the trip down to Portland for the SMCC crit. At the beginning of the B race (which I was sitting in on only for warm up purposes) I immediately knew I was in trouble. Coming off of a rest week with no real intensity my legs were anything but snappy. Of course I hoped that after a good warm-up things would turn around. Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be. Apparently a few people had coughed up enough cashola that there were premes on 11 of the 20 laps, including the very first lap so I was put on the rivet from the get go. After a couple of miserable attempts at the preme sprints I decided to sit in for a while and hope (once again) for the legs to come around.
Eventually, I started to get antsy so decided to launch an attack and see if I could get away from the pack. Fortunately for me, the next lap ended up being another f’ing preme lap so I was gobbled up quickly thus limiting my self torture.
After that failed attempt I dangled off the back of the lead pack until the final sprint. Got myself in good position and then watched as no less than 10 people sprinted past my uncooperative legs.
Good news is that with a really good, intense workout from the race yesterday today my legs felt spunky and rarin to go. Just in time to see some 70+ degree temps. Sweet.
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