Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Confession

Maybe I have a problem?
I noticed recently I have a lot of Sidi shoes. I have had two additional pairs in my life, but they were each wore to the non-functioning point. They were MTB shoes and there was a string of a couple years, several years back, where it rained every single race. Said shoes got so caked in mud on such a consistent basis that they would no longer stay securely closed.
So all the shoes I have replaced in the past several years, I have kept as "rain shoes." And now I have something of a collection.
Week off is going as planned. I am sleeping in (until 8-8:30) and and just chillin before going to work.
I did ride the inaugural Cyclocross Worlds training race yesterday evening. Cross is so hard. The effort is insane. It's much harder than time trialling (which is generally though to be the hardest road discipline). TTing is a steady effort near your max (threshold). CX is an effort at/above threshold, but far more inconsistent. So you're constantly above/at/above/at your absolute max. It hurts. Plus last night it was hot; mid 80's. CX is a fall/winter sport. But this is good training straight up. We were racing for 45min, and when I crossed the line @ 42minutes, I sat up and planned to ride one more lap easy to cool down. During this easy lap my chain broke. I walked it back over to the shelter house where Polish phenom Tomaz had a chain tool and I got it fixed. Had to clean grease off the bar tape w/ Simple Green, but no damage done.
This is to be a weekly training race, and I look forward to honing my CX fitness and skills. I'm under the belief that you can't not suffer in CX, but I hope to get faster and more efficient at suffering in this arena.
In other news: the wife of Indiana Race Series director Dan Daly died in a freak car-related accident the other day. Please keep Dan and his children in your thoughts and what-not.

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