Gearing Up

(That title's for you, DG!)

Well, the Yankee Springs Time Trial is less than a week away. Last Thursday we had our first team meeting. A bunch of us got together in Jackson to meet and socialize and talk about the upcoming season. There were a few I hadn't met before, but there were also several familiar faces, like Brad, Jake, Laurie and Mitch. It was fun to hang out with everyone and talk about racing. If I wasn't excited already, I certainly got that way quickly.

This Saturday, several of us met at Yankee to pre-ride the course. I rode with Mitch and Laurie. (Thanks, guys. It was nice not to have to drive myself for once!) I was hoping to have a spectacular performance and be so much better than last year. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly what happened. As soon as I was out on the course, that familiar fear returned. I was so hesitant in the beginning that I fell behind the group very quickly. I know I really hurt myself when I'm mountain biking because I lose a lot of momentum due to my fear on the downhills. Then I don't have as much speed to get up the next hill and it becomes a vicious circle.

I got a little bit braver once I got used to it a bit. I'm really wishing at this point that I had spent more time on the trail this year. I know the trainer miles will help my strength and stamina, but they don't do squat for making me feel comfortable on a trail.

I ended up crashing twice on the ride, but not bad either time. I also walked up a lot of hills I should have ridden, due to the aforementioned going slow on downhills and also due a bit to waiting to long to shift. I wish I could have one last crack at the trail before the race. I'm wondering if Wednesday might be an option. I'm going to try it.

At any rate, I ended up finishing with a time of 1:40. Last year, my time for the race was 1:47, so Saturday's time wasn't as much of an improvement as I was hoping for. Still, I know I wasn't riding at race pace and I did stop and wait a few times for people to pass me during the race. I don't think it would be out of line to shoot for a time of 1:35 for the race next week. We'll see how that turns out.

One last thing—I slept in on Friday so I missed my weigh in. I have no idea what I weighed this week, but I'm sure it wasn't pretty. I'm having trouble breaking this binge cycle that I'm in. Today's a new week though, so it seems like a good time to wipe the slate clean and start again. Now that I'm going to Key West I REALLY want to lose as much weight as I can quickly.