30 April, 2013

Going. Nowhere. Fast.


I guess this update should have come out before the Pontiac XC race last weekend.  I have been thinking about the content for a bit, but have been too busy/lazy to get it written.  I may as well get it up before race reporting.

2012 was supposed to be my breakout year for racing.  I don’t know if that was self-imposed or perhaps something that others felt as well.  I wouldn’t call it a meteoric rise by any stretch of the imagination.  2010 was my first year racing; I rode singlespeed in the beginner age group with the geared guys.  I trained a bit in the offseason, and 2011 came out in Sport Singlespeed category.  I did well enough, moved up after a couple of races and finished the season winning the CPS Expert/Elite Singlespeed, and finished 4th in the USAC sport age group on gears on the side.  After some cajoling in that Fall, it was time to man up to Expert.  I used this as an excuse to buy a new bike.

So, I trained hard over the winter of 2011, or at least I thought I did.  I moved to a big name team, and planned on another big race season and kicked it off with some very mediocre performances.  I got taken down at Barry-Roubaix, broke a chain at Yankee and again at Custer, missed a turn at Mud, Sweat and Beers, and overall just came out flat.  I then moved to some road work, and had some fun in the Cat.5 group before catting up after a few races.  Back onto the dirt and I continued my ways of self-destructing and finishing mid pack or worse.

By mid-summer, I was done and not even wanting to ride for fun.  My training went to null.  My racing were just going through the motions.  The only high spot from June on was the Stony XC race.  This was the first race I went in with not caring about finishes, team performances, or any expectations.  The result was my best finish of the season.

Iceman was a bust, and finishing at the back of the Pro group did nothing for my waning desire.  I had 5 months to figure out what it was that I am going to do this year.  You can notice that there is no schedule in the right column, and that is because I don’t know.  Each weekend is a coin flip to see if I am up for a race, or if I am going stay in bed.

This season will be going back to my roots, riding for Twin Six, no expectations, no cares and a Fuck You attitude.  Let’s see how this plays out.