Not the best title to a blog post. But I really couldn’t come up with much else. Sorry.

So my post about excuses is getting a lot of traffic and generating some interesting feedback. Nice to know I’m not the only one who feels this way. As I was out riding in the snow today I thought more about the excusegame. The thing is – we choose to ride and race our bikes. No one makes us. The majority of us (particularly those of us living in North America), are well-educated and have decent if not good jobs. We really do this for fun. Yes, we’re serious about it – but really it is about the fun and community. Really, why else would I put on a thin spandex suit and race around in the mud and rain?

Okay, herein ends the excusegame rant. I know I typed something similar yesterday…

Got out for a smooth if somewhat chilly ride today. 90 minutes of recovery. The wind was wicked. Thank goodness for my compact crank. I really didn’t notice the cold (yes I was overdressed). It was kind of peaceful to be out there with empty roads, the rustling tree branches, and the whirring of the bike.

I’m working on getting my European race calendar finalized. Hoping to get it sorted tonight – then I’ll update the race calendar. All I can say at this point – is there is a lot of race action going on. I’ll be racing everything – UCI elite women’s races, junior boy’s races, masters men’s races, and a World Cup.
Basically, if there is a race – I’m doing it. The premise is that this will help me/force me to learn. Don’t know if you’ve ever raced ‘cross in Europe, but it really is “sink or swim”. Gotta learn the hard lessons fast – otherwise each race becomes rather miserable. I learned a lot last year and want to learn just as much (if not more) this time around. The highlight of the trip will be watching Marc race in the Master’s World Cyclo-Cross Championships in Mol, Belgium. It will be strange being there and not being able to race (can’t race if you have UCI points). Oh well, I can relax and support Marc (this means yell my lungs out as he pedals by and make him some super tasty nutella sandwiches for his pre-race meal).

Along with racing ‘cross, I’ll be hooking up with the coach of the Belgian junior team for weekly ‘cross practice. I trained with these guys last year and it was awesome. Hard. Fast. Friendly. Just what I needed – nice way to break up the week of training, racing and recovery. I’ll also be putting in lots of road miles – the Tuesday and Thursday group rides are a lot of fun – never know who you’ll get as a riding partner (once I rode with Neils Albert – he is super friendly and yes – he is as cute in person as he looks in the photos…).

Getting my SRM moved over to my spare bike. So this means the Isaac will be put away and I’ll be spending all my time riding my ‘cross bikes. I don’t know if I’ll record any race data with the SRM (the data would be very useful to see) – depends on what my chief pit man (Marc) suggests on this. But, it will be perfect to have my SRM while in Belgium and out training on the road. I don’t know about you, but I’m not very good at judging my exertion level – my legs are either feeling super comfortable or burning up with fire…

I noticed there are more photos from the weekend racing action posted on Canadian Cyclist. I’ve also heard and read some grumbling about the races this past weekend. This is a tough thing. Yes, it is good to be vocal, but there is a balance here. Keep this in mind please. Constructive is the only way to go.

Onto New Jersey. I’m looking to improve on my result at these races last year. Last year my race goal was simple – don’t get lapped by Georgia Gould. (My favorite American racer, by the way.) This year, I’ve set my eyes a bit higher – a top 15 would be amazing and awesome. This is my goal. We’ll see what happens. I can only control my performance. To achieve this goal, I need to stay focused on my big lesson from the Toronto weekend: aggression.