For a long time my stubborn self tried to make it happen, but it's just too far away and too late in the season. I know I'm not the only one unable to make the trip, as a lot of my friends had to cancel their plans to do the race when the venue moved from Big Bear to Moab. In fact, right now there are only four women racing in the solo division...that's a bummer.
I'll be the first to admit that I had a few "feel sorry, cry like a baby" hours when I finally realized that I couldn't race Nationals. But I'm over it now. I had an amazing year with awesome support from my sponsors. I was able to ride/race my bike all over the country and I loved every moment of it...even the moments when I felt like I was "bleeding from my eyeballs" and was "borderline puking!"
That being said, it's also been a loooong year. It's hard to believe that my first race of the season was at the end of January. Gosh, that seems like over a year ago!!!
So, now I'm taking a month off from structured training and just doing whatever. This is the first time in 2 years where I don't have daily workouts and truthfully...it's driving me cuh-razy! Some people do really well without structure and I have come to the realization that I am NOT one of those people. Every single day I have to refrain from e-mailing my coach a million questions and asking her to give me intervals to do. Plus, I'm not sure if you can call my "month off" a true month off because I've done two XC races and two cyclocross races during that time :-) We have so many fun bike races/events in Michigan that it's been really easy to distract myself away from Natz.
Which brings me to the title of this post. I AM NOT racing this weekend...anywhere! There is a 6 hour race a few hours away from my house, and I'm really tempted to go do it. However, I think it's probably best if I take a weekend off from racing since my legs were pretty fried after last weekend. Instead, I'm going to ride my bike and eat cookies!!!
And if you live in the area you should too. The ColorBurst tour is this weekend, and it's a really great event. It was started by the Rapid Wheelmen after one of their members was killed on a training ride by a drunk driver and proceeds go to MADD.
I'm really looking forward to this as the route is pretty sweet and the weather should be perfect! Plus, the sag stops are ridiculous. I could get very used to having cookies and apple cider on the side of the road waiting for me :-)
PS. Good luck to everyone racing Nationals!!! When I'm not riding my bike this weekend I'm sure I'll be stalking the 24 hour real time results and cheering for everyone!
PPS. I just had one more "feel sorry for myself that I'm not at Nationals" moment as I typed that last sentence, but I swear I'm over it now :-)
5 comments:
Don't feel sorry for missing out on Nats! You did have a great season that you should be proud of. Would racing against just 4 other women be fun and worth the $$$. I doubt.
Nats SHOULD have been back in June, during prime mountain bike season, NOT during what is effectively cross season (for those who don't want to chill and drink beer all day). Not to mention the event (Nats, not Moab) could be a heck of a lot better if USA Cycling could/would work with the promoters to get the costs down for the event to get more folks racing it. The cost for an event like Moab are just too over the top. Add in travel costs and YIKES!!! That alone would make me feel just fine about not racing Nats.
Anyway, I got off track with a rant. The bottom line is you had a great season, had fun, and raced for some great sponsors, and of course the fine folks at Salsa. It was great to see you part of their team.
Good luck in 2011.
-J
PS- See you on Michigan soil/snow soon! -15 days! Looking forward to getting back to racing in '11 with some of those races up there.
Agreed!
Thanks guys.
Jason...get your butt up here already!!! I think I might try a XC ski race this winter if the snow is good. You can always come with. I only ski about once a year, so it would be interesting to say the least :-)
Ha! That would be a scene for me. I do XC ski, but VERY badly, so I burn like 2,000,000 calories per skie. I do a LOT of flailing around. Ha!
Same here. And I can't turn at all. So it would have to be a race that went in a straight line :-)
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