It's been awhile

Well, I have been the king of lurking for the past month and even put in some random comments here and there.

Just thought I would blog up and reflect on a bike racing season that has come and almost gone. This was pre race Tuesday night worlds last race of the season 2011

It was hot and humid and looking to be hella fun once again.

I'm glad I got back out of my box and started racing my bike again. Even though it had been 2 decades after the last run. The enormous equipment changes make things interesting. But what Ive seen over this past 6 months was that you can have the best equipment out there, and if your not putting in the time and efforts, it's not worth the cash you spent on it. 

Personally, I would like to build a steel framed bike and put a decent set of 50mm deep dish wheels on it. And train on that for the races. Then come race day saddle up on the full carbon and let it rip. But that's a whole other story in itself.

RECAP OF 2011 BIKE RACING SEASON-

I got the itch on March 9th and by March 29th I was going to do my first criterium race in just under 2 decades. Crazy ? I don't know, I knew I could ride pretty fast, I was way heavier now than then, maybe I could just ride myself into shape and form ?

I will be honest in saying I went out pretty confident in my abilities on that first evening and was quickly shown the raw truth of just how far off the mark I was. I got cracked off the back of an hour long race within 20 minutes. The second race it took until about 45 minutes. 

But from that point on I made it a point to put a game plan together and at least finish in the field.

When that started working then I set a new goal to try and get a few sprint points throughout the race and then hang on until the end. 

Where eventually I would start showing up to be a threat of contending.

I had my ups and downs with emotions throughout the season. Having lost Patrick from    http://www.theroadmultisport.com/ to 70.3 training.

Trying to form a new team. Which has been more miss than hit, but I still think there is some glimmer there. Trying to help guide a potentially talented 20 year old to see his real potential. 

In the end it all worked out. The Out-Spoke-n road bike, mountain bike, and triathlon racing team could be a well hated threat out there if the store owner takes it a bit more seriously.

Patrick is about ready to embark on his first 70.3, which I know he will rock and then go longer.

Adam the 20 year old, finally heeded some frustrated remarks from me one night, about just staying on my wheel. Low and behold he never dropped out of another race, started consistently contending for sprints and finishing in the top 10 every week. 

I still have one last So Cal Cup race left on September 11th. These are the nationally ranked races and for the last 3 I have entered I raced in 2 classes per race day. One, for more race time and exposure, and two for more race time and exposure. You see it turns out even at 45 or two months short of 46 I'm still pretty fast on a bike.

In the beginning they made me race straight Cat 5 with mostly 19 to 30 year olds, I had no choice, I had been gone too long. My previous Cat 3 status was non existent and I had to start from scratch.

Now I choose to race both Cat 4/5 senior ( which is 30 and under) and Cat 4 masters 30 +. The cool thing about masters is that most of them have held either Pro cards or raced 1,2,3 all there career and just never stopped for any real length of time.

Myself, I hope I continue to stay engaged and have some success and a lot of fun doing it.

So here we are 6 months later. I've raced 23 group start races. One of which had only 9 riders in it, others that exceeded 50+ riders. By the seasons end, I will have lined up 25 times. And although I got way more comfortable and confident, it really never seemed to get any less stressful. I guess I am just a race stresser. That for me seems to be a good thing though, I think If I ever get to lax about it, I will loose that edge. And that edge is what drove me to get better. 

I never really rode into weight or perfect form. I did however drop another 9 lbs through the season. And although I started getting consistent results at races, I never scored a 1st place finish in a final race. 

The good news is that this is all future goals to still chase after, this will continue to give me spark and drive.

Out of the 23 races I lined up at , I had 14 top 10 finishes. With 2 more top 15. FYI - they score to 20 in So Cal Cup races, but not on Tuesday night races. Only to 10 on Tuesday.

2nd place = 1

4th place = 2

5th place = 1

6th place = 4

7thplace = 4

9th place = 2

13thplace = 2

I was able to scoop up several 1st,2nd and 3rd place finishes on mid race primes, but I didn't record them. Maybe I should had since they are victories inside victories.

post race - (NOTE- I did not race in an Out-spoke-n jersey last night for the first time since my commitment, and in all honesty I felt more at home in a true race kit. Sorry, just being honest)

lastly, do you think that vain on the side of my forehead can get any bigger ? WTH ?

Feeling just a tad blown up and overheated, but pretty damned stoked !

So that's the recap less the 9-11 race. I'll be back and thanks for playing.