VQ Preview

Had a great ride on about 1/2 of the VQ COURSE yesterday afternoon.  Taking a little time off work and riding in the middle of the day is so much fun!  The strangest part was the number of people I saw out there hiking and riding, what do these people do?  As far as the trails go the climbs are as hard as ever and Holy Jim / Trabuco are in great shape right now.  The 5:30am start on Saturday is going to hurt though!  Anyway, I'm feeling good and really looking forward to it! 

What's next?

Another busy week in the books.  I was rested and ready for the ProXCT in Fontana, or so I thought.  Even when the gun went off I was feeling good and moving up on the first lap.  But things kind of plateaued from there.  I worked as hard as I could throughout the race, but stopped making up ground a couple laps in, and truly wasn't riding as well as I know I can.  It's really dissapointing to come up short at both of the hometown nationals this spring.  Especially because my training at the start of the year was better than ever.  I'm really not sure why I was off at Bonelli and now Fontana.  I've looked for some guidance and know that "many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."  So I'm resting at home instead of racing the short track this afternoon and leaving what's in store for me next in God's hands.  I really can't complain, life is tough sometimes, but still great!

What cold

After the busy Bonelli weekend I went right into a really frustrating day of work Monday, followed by getting sick Tuesday night...  The next 3 days were spent only working and sleeping, leaving me pretty anxious to try and ride today.  As soon as I got into the mountains life was good, and despite still having some cold symptoms I knocked off both of these routes in just under 4 hrs.  BLACKSTAR and MAPLE SPRINGS

After my post ride nap I felt absolutely terrible, only to feel completely fine now.  Hopefully I'm ready for more tomorrow...

Bonelli through the lens of Stephen Kozowyk

Check out Stephen's fine work here - http://stephenkozowykphotography.blogspot.com/

 

Whoa Nellie Bonelli

Wow, that was a tough weekend.  The first race of the National Series is in the books.  I felt good going into things, liked the tough course, and just didn't have it in the XC... 

After a long winter of training and a decent week leading up to the race it was super disappointing to come up short on the big day.  I was so frustrated with things I definitely wasn't excited to do the Super D or short track.   But all I could do was have some faith and try again.  The "super d" was basically a 7 minute time trial in which I rode a lot more respectably to end up 14th.  Sunday afternoon was the last race of the weekend - a super fast short track where I managed an 18th place.  I finally felt really good in this one and only missed out on racing with the front group for a top 10 after a couple tactical mistakes and getting caught behind a couple crashes.  It was a pretty aggressive race and was actually fun!!  No photos, but here are the race reports:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/us-pro-xct-1-bonelli-park-2

Follow all that up with a frustrating Monday at work...  and I need some rest

Last weekend's rides...

Saturday

Sunday

Wow - time for the nationals!!

Who needs rest when you can be at work instead??  It's Friday at 12:30pm, time to go home, get the bike, and see what the deal is at this Bonelli Park bike race!! 

Things have been busy since Sagebrush, but I've kept a decent balance and the legs should be good for the first round of the USA Cycling Pro XC Series taking place  tomorrow.  CYCLING NEWS RACE PREVIEW

The only thing left to do is get focused make sure I have the right motivation going into the race.  Wish me luck!