I now know how Jan Ulrich feels...

Sweet photo, Gtluke strikes again

While many of you are enjoying the highest level of fitness so far this year. I'm enjoying the last week of my off season....
Nahh, I can't say that. Truth is I can't wait to get back to training, the off season thing is driving me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I know that in order to improve you need to step back a little. It's just that holding down the couch is not my thing. Last night I had a dream about racing and this morning I awoke wanting to go for a ride. This is a departure from the last few months where I would often awake dreading a ride that day, and even though I had no ride scheduled would feel guilty at the end of the day for not working out. Crazy, Huhh? Mi vida loca!
Originally I was not gonna start training till December. To tell the truth if I wait that long I may never get off the couch, or I may weigh so much that I won't be able to.
Being a endurance racer is great. Training for hours a day not only keeps you in great shape but when you do overeat you see no weight gain at all. Hell I've actually gone off the deep end at times only to wake up the following morning to a three pound weight loss!!!
But when I'm in the off season "I'm fucking ravenous". I can't seem to get enough food. It sucks, and I'm not working out enough to burn it off.
I don't know what I'll do when I decide to retire from bike racing but then again being a fat ass won't matter then anyway. I'll just take my blood pressure meds and blend into society.

Anyway.....
In a attempt to "up my game" I hope to be racing some larger fields in faster races this year. Maybe a lot of M.A.S.S., and with H2H guaranteeing payouts 15 deep I'll have to see how things pan out on the local scene also.
March 5th looks to be my first race at Estrella Mountain Park in Goodyear, Arizona. Estrella is one of the more technical courses in the M.B.A.A series. I raced here two years ago and finished in fourth. A pretty good result for a snowbound easterner. The race was four laps. Two long laps followed by two tech. I remember only getting to preride the tech lap and thinking the long lap was way more technical. Oh well, fun race anyway.
March 19th I'll be at Sierra Vista. It's a new venue from 2010 and I've never raced there. I hope it's nothing like Gardner Canyon that I did in 2008. That place just had way too much rubbly ass fire road. Not to mention I finished 17 out of 17 in the pro field. My worst outing as a pro ever.
M.A.S.S. hasn't posted their schedule yet but I'm almost positive I'll be at Fair Hill. It's always in early April and a blast to race on those super buff trails.
Root66 is a early April option also. Hop Brook and Winding Trails are always super competitive.
Back to New York for singlespeed-a-palooza on April 17th. I'm the two time winner of this event and I wouldn't miss it for the world. At this point I probably won't have even been on the single much so the racing will most likely be the most competitive yet. Can I pull a three peat?
Wawayanda comes next. The H2H opener usually has a good turnout and it's right in my backyard. Recipe for disaster?
After that I'm gonna work on the endurance game for a while. I'm a possible for Mohican again. Maybe focusing on the N.U.E. series for a while or possibly chasing the fifty's. I'll keep it pretty loose after May to avoid burnout while I take another run at the all elusive Dark Horse 40....

Sounds like a plan....Kind of..