What a great day it is! Today I start real training again. Until now I was simply “riding” – no plan and no methodology – really just riding to help me mentally and keep me moving. Well, now I get to start training – I’m pretty darn excited.

In fact I’m really feeling excited about the upcoming road season and of course the cycle-cross season. Normally I don’t do much road racing because I’m building fitness/strength in the summer months after a break from training and racing that typically extends into mid-March.

Well, the silver lining to this injury is that I can be ready and fit for the road season. I’m so keen that I even went through some race calendars and I’ve highlighted some races and events I will be doing… Here is a look at what I’m planning on doing:

April 15 Clarence Rockland Classic
April sometime – Almonte-Roubaix
April 22 – Calabogie Road Race
May 19 – UCI Road Race
May sometime – Ride of the Damned
May 26 – Dandelion Grand Prix – criterium
June 9-10 – Rideau Lakes
June 17 – Preston St.criterium
July 21 – GranFondo

If you know me well then you might be surprised to see the Clarence Rockland Classic, Almonte-Roubaix and Ride of the Damned races on my calendar… Well, I’ve decided this is the season of doing “things I never do” – yes so doing these races that I have adamantly said in the past I didn’t want to do. In addition to this race calendar I’m going to do the local training criteriums and you’ll likely see me out at Camp Fortune bouncing over rocks and roots on my mountain bike trying to keep up with the fast kids during the local mountain bike races.

Training-wise, I had a great talk with coach Steve on Friday. Steve has been coaching me for a few years now and we’ve developed a pretty good relationship. He knows that I’ll always want to do “more” – and he is excellent at keeping me controlled. What really impresses me about Steve is his openness to new ideas – I bounced some ideas off of him yesterday and he was eager to hear all about them – very refreshing and encouraging. (So basically, if you’re looking for a coach – visit Steve’s website!)

Yep, so pretty darn good day here today. I’ll be thinking of my friends traveling to France today to race the World Cup tomorrow and I really hope I can catch the highlights from the women’s race somewhere on the Internet. This is an exciting time to be a cyclocross racer and frankly an exciting time in general. Lots of good stuff happening and it is nice to be back in a very “happy” place.