Race Time!

It is finally here... months of preperation... months of cold weather and solitude... finally ending with the birth of a new race season. I really cant wait. I have been looking forward to this moment since November 1st last year when I hammered out a training plan and started working toward this season.

I think I am prepared. I certainly have a great team around me... we have a sprinter, a few mountain specialists, a few guys that should do well in crits, a few TT guys. I would think that all of our Cat 4/5 team will be toward the top of the group we meet on Saturday, but time will tell.

I am a big Georgia Football fan and college football fan in general. There are always those running backs that are not great practicers... but you put them in game situations and watch out. They have a way of out-performing when there is a lot on the line... they react and feed off of the crowd... they enjoy hurting other folks. They are gametime guys. These are the guys that you dream that you have around the first of September (earlier than that nowadays)... you have not heard about them much during the spring and fall practices, but pray that they will put out when the going gets big...

I hope I will be a game-time guy this year. I have actually been a great practicer... the schedule suits me... the goal oriented, task oriented training I have been doing makes a lot of sense to the engineer inside of me. Set the goal, organize, and accomplish. It has really been fun. Before I decided to race my bike, I really loved the training more than the race. I never really cared about the outcome of a race... the training... the long hours... the commitment... that was what I enjoyed. I would train for a marathon (just once) or a triathlon (only a few) and have a time goal in mind, but it was a personal adventure. I cared more about the distance covered than the time or the competition. My, how the game has changed.

I really have got to get my head straight for the big efforts ahead. At the beginning of last season, there was no amount of discomfort that would make me back down... until I had at least thrown up in my mouth. Toward the end of the year, I could not put out anymore... I started making excuses. Dont get me wrong, there were plenty out there to grab on to. Having a child with down sydrome is not an easy thing to get your head around and Leslie was still pregnant at the end of last season. That was my last taste of racing... my head was not in it... I was just going through the motions. I am not going to do that this year. There is a very fine line between thinking that this is the day you will push yourself all out and telling yourself that there is always another day. The first is a loser and the latter is a winner.

I have thought a lot this week about what motivates me to try to win a race. How have things changed in the last year of my cycling "career"? At some point... around this time last year... I decided that maybe I should give it a go... try my hand at racing... and I wasn't half bad. In my mind, I plan to transform... just like the manimal right before the TT in Albany... ... hopefully say bye-bye to base and not turn back... think panther... yes, think panther...