In case you're wondering, you'll find me here...

White Tanks (marathon podium)Photo by Salvatore Crochiola

I finally put my schedule together for this year. I'd been putting it off for a while going back and forth on what I want to do. Just having a idea of what races I want to attend and actually putting it down on paper is two different things. First off I always say I'm gonna do more M.A.S.S. and never do. This year I registered for the series. I would like to do the required eight races to qualify for the series championship. I've also decided to go for the M.A.R.C. series. With two of the races local for me and Bear Creek only two hours away (I only have to travel for Greenbrier) this will be my local racing series this year.
Sadly, I won't be at much H2H this year, missing many local races due to conflicts and to avoid burnout. I'll miss seeing all the familiar faces but look forward to racing some new competition. I've heard they are guaranteeing Pro payout at H2H this year, but by still paying cash in Cat1, and other competitive Cat1's worried about series points, I fear many won't make the leap. That will leave us Pros with a small or diluted field.
On the endurance front, The Bearscat 50, Lumberjack 100 and the Dark Horse 40 will keep me riding the long training days. There is a outside chance at the Wildcat Epic and the Shenandoah 100, if I bail out of either M.A.R.C. or M.A.S.S. early. I would like to go back to the VT50, I feel I have unfinished business there but that's much later so we will just have to see how it goes....

Feb 5th: Estrella Hedgehog Hustle
Feb 26th: White Tanks Whirlwind
March 26th: Michaux Mash
April 10th: Fair Hill (M.A.S.S.)
April 17th: Singlespeed-A-Polooza presented by Dark Horse Cycles
April 30th High Point Hill Climb (TT)
May 1st: Granogue (M.A.S.S.)
May 7th: French Creek (M.A.S.S.)
May 15th: Tymor Park (M.A.R.C.)
May 22nd: Greenbrier (M.A.R.C.)
June 5th: Bearscat 50
June 18th: Lumberjack 100
June 26th: M.A.S.S. Festival (M.A.S.S.)
July 11th: Fair Hill Classic (M.A.S.S.)
July 17th: Bulldog Rump (M.A.R.C.)
July 31st: Dark Horse 40
August 7th: Sewell Summer Sizzler (M.A.S.S.)
August 13th: Bear Creek (M.A.R.C.) Or Wildcat Epic???
Sept 4th: Shenandoah 100 ???
Sept 11th: Coal Cracker Classic (M.A.S.S.)
Sept 18th: Bear Creek (M.A.S.S. finals)

If you see me, say hi....

Training day: "Monte style"

Fresh off her win on Saturday, Jane and Alex came down to casa-de-mom in Tucson for a couple days. Monte training, was on the Pearson's menu. I would take them down to check out the trails by Colossal Cave...

A little road to get to the trails never hurt anyone. Most people would drive, then again, most people aren't training for 100 mile mountain bike races...

I like combining the road and trail in one ride, Keeps you honest and gives you time to work on pedaling circles...

Once you get to the trails I always forget about the long road ride out, I've gotten myself in trouble this way but I can't resist...

Wheel sucker? Or a painful reminder to stay off the brakes?
Going home, we quickly realized why we were so fast on the way out. Needless to say, the smiles were all turned upside down at this point...
Feeling depleted, a couple of roadies passed us. They went by so quick I thought It was Liz Hatch and Andy Schleck or something. They must have been chasing pretty hard because shortly after it unraveled for them, We gave chase and pulled them back rather quickly. When we went by the man, he had gained 30 lbs and the woman aged 30 years and both were weaving like a drunkard on the hills. It was like Liz and Andy had pulled off to take a pee and let the stunt doubles take over. I was almost embarrassed for chasing....Almost!

My rides tend to sneak up on you. A nice steak and some fresh roasted veggies will cure all of that...

Thanks for coming out, I had a great time...