Last weekend of big domestic travel. Hitting the road in an hour an a bit to make the trek down to Rhode Island. Last of the New England Verge Series races. Totally looking forward to it.

I realized I haven’t written much about these upcoming races. Suppose it is because my head has been full of lots of other “to do” lists, etc. So this weekend. What am I aiming for? What do I want to get out of myself on the bike? Well traditionally I haven’t raced well at Rhode Island. First year I raced in RI I did okay on the first day but really did not have fun the second day on the ice and snow (I dropped out). Following year, this was supposed to be when I made the move to racing elite. Nope. Didn’t happen- I cracked under some crazy fear of racing with the elite women. I raced the first day in the 3/4 category – and raced very badly. Second day I warmed up – but didn’t start… Missed RI last year – we were in Belgium racing.

So this year. This year, it is going to be different. New category. New race courses. New me. One thing that has been missing from my ‘cross racing this year is the acceleration out of things – corners, barriers, technical sections. I haven’t been doing that “stand up and really dig deep to get the speed back” thing. So this weekend it is all about this. Getting back up to speed fast and hard. Oh and looking ahead is important – especially with all those trees.

Got my SRM installed on my spare bike – thanks Marc and Paul D. So I’m curious to look at the power numbers this weekend. If conditions are good, I’ll put the head unit on and see what it captures.

I’ve written about this before, but really I can’t say enough about the cycling community. As you know I’m going to Belgium and while there I’ll be racing in three World Cups. Well because of the scheduling, Marc can’t come to these races. So I’ve been pretty much contacting everyone I know to arrange transportation to and from the races. And I’ve just got to say Thanks. Thanks to the people whom I’ve never met who have responded to my emails and have helped me out by pointing me to another person or given me suggestions on lodging, etc. I really hope to repay the favors.

Alright dudes, I’ve got to go. Still a few things to stroke off this morning’s “to do” list. Have a safe trip to RI – looking forward to seeing you there. If you’re not racing this weekend – well hopefully you can enjoy some nice down time with your family (try to stay away from the malls – sure to be a very crazy place).