Fall Hard

Things have certainly petered out since Fool's Gold (a little over two weeks ago). I started out doing what I like to call "recovering"; eating more and riding less. Shortly after that the Fastest Bike in the World re-entered my life, and it was all I could do to stay off of it at work. Instead of riding my fixed Thylacine with it's heavy wheel/tire combo, I preferred the happy fast ride of the FBITW instead. Not only that, I was lacking the motivation to get up early enough to blog AND ride every morning, so I chose blogging instead of riding since I have a increasing aversion to riding extra miles on hot and humid Charlotte mornings that leave me smelling like a cat pissed on my messenger bag.

Then came the weekend of human turmoil that actually had me take a Monday off from blogging. Lack of sleep, added stress, and an overabundance of Sweetwater 420 in the house started a downward slide. My mind was so focused on life and it's intricate web of problems with no definite or exact solution while I was at work that I kinda forgot to drink water all day. This, combined with the high temperatures has left me noticeably dehydrated. Even though the family problems were resolved I still had that unsettling feeling that something was still amiss.

All photos once again courtesy of Big Worm

This weekend was a nice blow-off. There are many reasons I don't have a real coach (no offense to Mike Piazza, but he is made of plastic) or pay someone to come up with a training plan for me to follow on a daily basis. My ride schedule is mostly determined by mood, weather, boredom, priorities, sleep (or lack thereof), my ability to write my blog in a given amount of time, peer pressure, and a whole slew of uncontrollable outside occurrences that include waterfowl migrations and garbage roll out day.

I can't imagine asking a coach how he/she felt about my riding plans for last weekend as it approached.

Me: Hey coach, I'm either gonna race fifty miles on Saturday or go goof off for ten miles in Greenville and then hang out and waste my day watching roadies on Sunday. Whaddaya think?

Coach: You shouldn't do either. Racing fifty miles the week before Shenandoah would be stupid, and pissing away a whole weekend would be even stupider. I recommend pyramid intervals followed with... (somewhere after that I would be confused).

Me: But that's not what I wanna do....

Coach: What do you even pay me for?

Me: To help me win the most important race on the international cycling calender... and that's about it.

Coach: Call me next year then. Goodbye *click*.

So here I come Shenandoah. Ready I'm not. Who cares anyways? I've been slowly sliding my way off the podium at the SM100 for the past couple of years, so here's to shooting for my lucky sixth place. Why continue with a logical recession from glory? Second in 2007, third in 2008, and sixth in 2009?? Why not? If you're gonna fall you should at least try to fall hard.

BTW: Do you Facebook? Are you gonna be bored in February and re-reading yellowed copies of MBAction in your mom's basement? Bookmark Single Speed USA and plan ahead to escape the winter doldrums.