Now on to cycling.
So much for 'tapering off' before a race. My goal for SERC @ Raccoon Mountain is to arrive sunburned, tired along with some lingering effects from the night before and suffer through the 22 miles on my one gear kidney shaker.
Note: Archived image of the Kidney Shaker in its stock (original, unmodified and not set up specifically for me) form.
I ride when I can and this past month has been difficult to get on the bike due to a minor injury, work and family vacation. The same challenges almost everyone else has. This week has afforded me the opportunity to log almost as many hours on the bike as I have in the past month. I didn't plan this, it's just the way it worked out. Things are going just as unplanned. I told myself when I started racing mountain bikes that I would not let racing or a race or God forbid training, interfere with my enjoyment of riding a mountain bike.
Here I am half way through the SSUSA race in 2008. You won't see Jeff Kerkove chugging a PBR at mid-point in a ride, much less a race. Now that's what mountain biking is all about, riding, having fun, and riding some more. It did kinda upset my stomach on the the next climb filled lap though, but who cares.
I gotta ride when I have a chance and I can't be 'tapering off' or 'ramping up' or doing 'recovery rides'. If I try a training schedule I will miss out on a lot of good rides. That stuff is for people that get paid to ride their bikes and plan out their riding and racing like it's their job, cause it is. This doesn't mean I am going to show up at a race and just ride along and be in the way, it may seem like that's what I am doing sometimes, but trust me that's really my race pace.
One thing I have missed this year is the Wednesday night group ride. This week it was not a total hammer fest but a few of us did roll out pretty hard. There are always several groups to ride with and I joined in with Hammerhead Chad, the only other SS'er besides myself, Never Ready Freddy, Lil' Ray, T.R., Shirtless Joe Jefferson (although uncharateristically clad in a Trailhead jersey), and Jerry. We took off from the bikers parking lot and took the Sinks>Goat Trail> Roller Coaster (aka Flat Rock Connector)>Flat Rock>and up to the water tower>closed road back to parking lot. And then I pedaled home for a nice and fast ~2hrs on the single speed including the usual group required stops. This is only my second group ride of the year, hopefully I can join in on the suffering and camaraderie more often.
Thursday I got out for a hush, hush ride on the Renegade (aka Forbidden) Trail. I can't say much more than that, other than it is extra sweet when your ride is on a kinda hidden, secret, unmarked, not on any map trail with coyotes, deer, spiders, snakes, wild turkeys and all sorts of other trail obstacles. I had a busy day at work so I didn't pedal away from the house until almost 6PM and this is usually a 2 plus hour ride that finishes with me doing about 4 miles on the road to get back home. It was about dark when I hit the road, got yelled at by one driver for not having a light and pedaled my way home.
Race day on Sunday. My plan is to leave the house at 5:30AM CST on Sunday in order to make it to Raccoon Mtn by 8:00AM EST and put forth enough effort for a mid pack SS finish in the SERC race. Results on Monday, maybe. I might take the morning off and go for a recovery road ride. Who knows?
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