More Cross, Happiness, and more

Cross is growing ever closer. In fact a number of people have already started racing. My first race wont be until next weekend. 8 days away. I can't wait. I've got my position dialed in on the bike, my tire pressures figured to a T, and I've been working on muscular endurance like a mad man. Plus Brian M. got me hooked up with a skinsuit too...not that its really going to help my performance.

Cross weaknesses. There are a couple things I think I'm going to be behind on at the start of the season. One will be dismounts/remounts. With my arm being hurt, I just haven't practiced like I should've. The other will be sprint efforts. In an attempt to build a little more core, I've stopped any VO2 workouts for four weeks. My pacing should be good, but starts, small hills, and finishes aren't going to be a strong point.

Since my last post I've decided some North Carolina cross is in order. Their CX3 fields were 30+ sometimes last year. Not that they are harder than MSG, but with a bigger field usually comes a larger group of faster riders. Then the competition level goes up a notch.

While driving to work yesterday at 5:30am I saw several people out running through town. This was very unusual and it made me happy. I was kind of worried it made me happy, but really I'm a huge fan of people bettering their fitness. I come from a family that encourages gravy and biscuits for breakfast, something with gravy for lunch, and then something else with even more gravy for supper. Nascar, hunting, football, and big trucks are the main staples of culture, and under no circumstance is exercising "cool". So to see people out and actually exercising gives me hope that this area might fall to a healthier culture in time.

Yesterday my batteries in my PowerTap hub went dead. Right in the middle of my workout. I hadn't thought I had become that dependent on the PT, but when it went out I felt naked. I climbed off the bike and tried and tried to get it reconnected with the head unit. I had to convince myself I wasn't going to die and that I could finish my ride on "feel". As soon as the ride was over, I grabbed a shower and headed straight to Walmart for batteries. Problem fixed. I just can't believe how it made me feel when it went out. I don't even look at it much during a race, but during training I crutch on it heavily. After about 5 min of it being out, I was ok again. Maybe it was the thought it not being the battery and the $$ I would have to dish out if it was the hub.

MSG #1 October 3rd. First cross race of the season.