Squeezing 2013 for all it's worth

While I was on vacation last week, I signed up for a stage race.

Not the Trans-Sylvania Epic.  I'm already committed there, as Mike Kuhn has some compromising photos of me that he won't hand back over until the 2017 TSE.

Not the Breck Epic either.  My resources are already 100% go in that direction this August.  I've already rented a condo closer to the bars so Peter won't have to wander through any raw sewage on his way home Friday night.

So this is not a race in the standard circuit for me.  I have not been in attendance since the inaugural year back in 2007.   The stars have not aligned for my return until now, but as of Friday, it's officially official...

I'm going to the BC Bike Race next July.  You should join me...

Oh wait.

Yep, it done sold out IN RECORD TIME within days of my entry.  I squoze in, or perhaps I was squozen in... dunno.  You see, I will be "on assignment" as well as "racing."  I will be covering the race for Dirt Rag in some unknown as of yet capacity.  It will either be daily race posts after every stage, a full feature article in print, seven Haiku's, or a screenplay.  Coach, GM, attorney, PR man, and head IT guy, Mike Piazza is going over the 700+ page contract as soon as he gets done with cross pump class later today.

No matter what the contract says, at this point I am committed to doing whatever it is I promised to do.  Am I stoked?

That's a dumb question.  Probably my three favorite stage races of all time in one calendar year.  Races with a focus on quality trail AND NOT just however hard the promoter can make it in order to be able to call it "the toughest race in the universe."

The timing could be considered fortunate or just plain stupid.  TSE, then four weeks off, BCBR, then five weeks off, and lastly, BE.  Not enough time to recover and then properly prepare between any of them.  This is not good news for me in a physical sense, but it does make life easier.  With no time to recover and train, I will do very little in between the massive efforts using the races themselves as training for the next race.

BC Bike Race will demand some specialized training.  BC is infamous (more than famous) for its sweet singletrack and elevated structures.  As I remember it, the further you get into the race (and the closer you are to Squamish and Whistler), the more "technical trail features" there are.  I would have liked to have used my private facilities behind the garage to prepare...



but if you can recall, I fell through the tallest portion during the 2012 spring inspection.

It has been closed since the incident, and upon further review by an expert safety panel (The Pie), it has been condemned.  Portions of it are coming down, and I'm sure my neighbor will be relieved to look over the fence and see that the eyesore has been removed.

I will have to go elsewhere to get my elevated practice.  The default location will be the Backyard Trails... in June.  The most humid, poison ivy covered, spider infested place on earth in the summer.

Awesome.