The Tuesday Ride n’at

The Tuesday Night ride was blissful. One of those rides that after you find yourself with an ear to ear grin. Great weather and my legs and body felt great. My illness seems to be gone. There was a slight increase in frequency and amount of snot rockets but I can deal with that.

Didn’t want to push too hard, but in past years I found myself doing a lot of “junk miles” so this year I’m trying hard to make every ride have a purpose. So I thought this would be a good ride to work on leg muscle strength. So on all feasible climbs I remained seated and powered up Jan Ulrich style. On some climbs of course It just wasn’t possible, the grade was just too steep. But got some burn going in the quads and glutes.

Saw Kev out again. Powering up a Saxonburg with one good leg and the other, not clipped in and about 60% strength.

Mountain biking on the El Santo at Boyce tonight. 2+ hours. Should be great stuff.

The Big Bear solo category has grown to a whopping 6 riders. 4 of the 6 competed at the Solo Worlds last year. Yikes! But I can’t be worried about who else is racing. I need to stay focused on MY abilities and realize that this is my first year of doing all solos and I’m learning as I go. Some of these guys have been doing this for years. I’ve already learned a lot since last year at 7 Springs. FOCUS! FOCUS DAMN IT!!

At the beginning of the year when I was developing my race goals, I wanted to be COMPETITIVE at Big Bear and try to podium at 7 Springs in September. I need to stay focused on my long term goals.

Saw a great 30 min. Libertines concert on cable this a.m. shame they fell apart ‘cause they freaking rock.
Sing it with me: "I GET ALONG, get-a-long, get-a-long, get-a-long, get-a-long, get-a-long,
I Get along just singing my song, people tell me I’m wrong. F*ck ‘em".

Cameron Chambers won the NORBA Solo Nationals, knocking off Chris Eatough who had to bow out due to health issues. See the story over at www.mountainbikeracer.com. I got passed by Chambers through a rocky technical section at Snowshoe last year. Seemed to be floating over the rocks.

Later