damn its been awhile

I've really been slacking on this blog, seems to me to be cool though computer guys usually are slackers so I fit right in. Been doing a lot of riding up until about two weeks ago. The good news is I feel I have a great base in now I just need to round out the fitness. I always seem to go through this phase in early spring where the motivation to spend time on the trainer is gone, but there isn't enough light to ride after work yet. Good news is the time change was Sunday so I can start riding after work and skip some trainer time.

I went to Moab in early March for the COMotion training camp. Got in a few days of long rides on the mountain bike. The new Yeti rocks, but I have to admit it is not a great way to break in a new saddle with two 4.5 hour rides in a row. My ass took a couple of days to recover. I've also had the Yeti hidden in the basement since TC, working to lighten it up for racing. I got some new wheels just for racing and those wheels will knock about 1.5 pounds off the bike. Also bought some SRAM X.0 twist shifters to replace the paddle shifters. Cost was about $60, but weight savings is in the 90 gram range. Overall the bike will be about 2 pounds less then the original set-up. Cost was less than $500 so seems like a good investment.

I've done a couple road races the past two weeks to help work on conditioning. I'm clearly lacking in high end fitness but it is good to get out and put in some race miles. I made the initial lead group in Sunday's race, but didn't have the juice to stay with the leaders. It was a super windy day and as soon as I got dropped there was no chance to catch back on. Ended up working with a strong chase group that fell apart in the last 2 miles as each of us hit our limits. I put in a sprint at the end after a guy who had been drafting me the last 2 miles attacked on the finish climb. We were fighting it out for 21st, but I had my pride and couldn't let a guy who didn't do any work at the end beat me. The effort should pay dividends later and hopefully by May I'll be ready for the mountain bike season.