Summer is coming...right?

The first mountain bike race of the year has come and past. The Iola Bump and Jump is always one of my favorite races despite my annual not doing so well. The week leading up to the race I was a little torn on two things. Should I race, as I had many other possibly more important things to do, and which race to do. There was also a crit in La Crosse that same day. Now to be completely honest, I was going to do the WORS race over the road any day, but I thought about it for a second. But to actually race was another story. I was really busy and didn’t have a ride. I called around and everyone was already there on Saturday or was full up. I ended up calling my parents Saturday night and getting a ride. Thanks Mom and Dad.

At the race my dad helped out with hand up, which I should have been taking but wasn’t. I was seriously just putting my head down and pedaling. It was my first cat 1 race and let me tell you, it hurt. I was expecting some pain, but knew I wasn’t in the best racing shape due to lack of sleep and eating correctly. I felt surprisingly ok though. I was able to hold a solid pace and ended up in 40^th place. I am happy with this finish for a few reasons. I never do well at Iola, I’m not feeling great, and I was in Cat 1. I think all these add up to 40^th. But beyond all of the stats and the feeling and everything, it was just awesome to get back on the dirt. I still need to get some of those upgrades for my bike going, but I don’t care. I just love the dirt.

One thing I will say about the race was it was cold. Now it wasn’t terrible, it was in the 40s and windy. The problem was that I woke up late and checked the weather, which said 55-60 degrees, sunny and no real wind. I was dressed for that without anything else to really keep me warm. I had to scrounge up some gloves and things and raced in my warm up jacket. The cold has continued on. This past Tuesday was the first practice crit in Madison. FUCK IT WAS COLD. I was dressed for racing in the 40s, and it was low 40s and I was standing around for a good 45 minutes. I felt ok, still tired, same old same old. I was able to put in some good attacks but could tell that no one really saw any of them as a threat. I dropped out with 2 to go, because I was feeling overworked. I would have stayed in but I don’t think I looked up at the lap cards once. Finished the day off with a nice ride home with some good friends.

Things are shaping up to be a good summer. I can’t wait to be done with school, and ride more often. I am looking to get in really good shape and bring that through to next fall for collegiate MTBs. On top of that I’ll be working at Saris and getting more involved with actual design. Over the summer, the plan is to work on not only getting a head start on some things for the fall, but also making a conscience effort to simplify my life, and simply do fewer things. This way I can focus on doing a better job on the things I care about most.