Friday, September 2, 2011

The calm (?) before the storm

It is funny that my desire to blog seems to be tied to racing or vacationing.  Since I have done neither of those things lately my blog has been sort of neglected but I assure you life has been moving forward!  I have been putting in solid miles on the bike, and trail running.  Yes, running!  Since trying Vibram 5 fingers my right foot has been mostly pain free when off the bike...

...and with CX season bearing down on us, and the need for some off-season cross training I decided that maybe I could run with them too!

Trail running suddenly became a fun and relatively pain free way to experience trails.  I don't run very fast or very far, but I am enjoying it lots!  New trails (not open to bikes) and time spent with the wife on dirt...  can't go wrong!

I have been fortunate enough to get a Cyclocross bike as well!


The 2012 Specialized CruX is probably the funnest bike I have ever ridden.  It makes all the "ho-hum" trails around us into "yeehaw" trails.  It is way more fun to ride on the road than an MTB.  Combine this with the new route options of Road-Dirt-Road and well, it just friggin rocks!  Sure, I will likely curse this machine as I drool and gasp for air in the upcoming CX races... but racing always hurts and there is so much more to this bike than just racing!!!!

Allison's website got hacked and that has been a big downer.  I will never understand the motivation of people that do things like that.  Hopefully we can get it fixed.  In the meantime Allison has been bottled up and suffering a whole range of emotions.  Worlds is going on and she isn't there.  We had really planned on being there.  I don't think I fully understand it all, but from what I can gather it is like she had leaned forward into a severe headwind and all of a sudden the wind stopped and she crashed on her face.  I get pretty fired up about it all and will do anything to prevent future issues with Black Death Foot or anything else that keeps her from doing what she wants.  It pains me to see her pained.  With any luck maybe she can return to that level and race in Austria next year, that would be SWEET!


Back to CX, it is a bit daunting looking forward at the schedule.  More racing than I care to think about.  So much driving!  I am super glad for having the TDI, but the miles and cost is going to be quite a lot!  I do hope to have some good races though.  Not sure whether I will be contesting 35+ or the Elite 1/2/3 races yet.  I plan on doing both at the first race or so and then deciding where I stand.  I should be faster than last year, so if that is the case I will probably go for the Elite races where it will be a huge struggle to stay on the lead lap.

Interbike should be interesting.  Racing CX there should be a nice kick in the nuts, the first of many kicks in the nuts that I will likely get this "off-season".

Looking forward to a fantastic weekend!  Get some!

1 comment:

The Bikinator said...

It's so nice to see how into biking both you and Allison are. I love that you support each other through it all. It's good to read your post. Can't wait to hear about your cross season. I might give a cross race a try this season.