Mid Season..... or CX base?

Last time I made a blog post attempt, I bonked mid sentence.

The WORS race over 4th of July weekend at Eau Claire was a good time. With some spirited encouragement from Sephie, Rowan learned to ride sans training wheels in about 2 minutes. I felt warmer and more snuggly inside than a basket of puppies while watching him stand up and hammer across the field. He was a bit more timid the next day and I probably got more frustrated with him than I should. He was either shaken from one of his falls, or he does much better when girls are watching.

Sheri jumped out front for the holeshot and had a good race. Rowan and I ran through the woods frantically with a camera and a sack of pre-race food trying to find Mom and cheer her on. That chick is going to be fast when she actually has time to ride and train.

My race was a bit of a mixed bag. I felt good and strong and kept it upright the whole race (from now on I think I will bounce myself off the ground at least once as part of my warm-up). I did have a hard time though just letting riders slip away from me. On the lead out, I sat right on the Curteseses but then just let them get away when gearies started coming around me on both sides. It was like getting swallowed. I think I am way too timid in a pack, sitting up when I still have some top end to spend. I have been doing the same thing this year in the singletrack. When Bill came around at Eau Claire I just watched him walk away one pass at a time without even checking into my LT. I think I'm getting beat by experience at this point, and it still takes me two laps to develop a sense of urgency. I might upgrade now to shock the system, and improve my “laps/hours driven to get to race” ratio.

I took 5 days off the bike to be completely rested for a 12 hour single speed attempt at Blue Mound. Now the rain date is the same day as the Badger Prairie CX race, so I'm torn. With the race off, Ryan and I logged 90 miles to Illinois and back on the H8full Badger trail. It was my first ride on the Ridley Supercross and it felt great but out of its element. It wants to accelerate over and over again, and it is set up a bit too racy for sitting and grinding in the dirt for hours. Back in our neighborhood, deep into hour 5, we pulled a 900watt sprint to catch a couple of nerds on scooters down Seminole. It was a much needed ride and a good time as Ryan makes a good training partner.

With the Blue Mound race off and over, I took the Vassago out of overbuilt enduro mode. With the switchblade back up front and some light, fast tires stans'd up I ripped a bunch of laps at QR last night. The good lines we once had through the rocky upper part of the climb are washing away; about 6 feet of that climb is getting more difficult and is a great testing ground for SS climbing traction.

Tired and satisfied, we watched a bunch of nobodies race over some mountains on TV somewhere in France. I think the BKB could send over a team and make Tim a GC contender this year. Tonight's stage might be worthwhile though. Like many cycling fans, I'm trying pretty hard to wrestle myself from vapid indifference over what remains of the TDF.