Exercise, Exercise Each and Every Day

I can not say that my focus in preparing for the '19 "season" has been laser sharp. Coming down with RSV a month or two ago put a figurative damper on things.  The extremely moist weather has put a very literal damper on getting some decent saddle time.  My goals of losing X amount of pounds has borne little fruit.  I mean, I've lost a few pounds here and there, but I've always managed to find them again.  I'm very good at that.

Hardly an "all in" effort.

Anyhoo, The Whole Enchilada is this weekend.  While I'm not ready for 46 miles of mostly singletrack race making, it falls in the window of possible dry riding this weekend, and it will force me into a very long ride when I'd probably not do so on my own.

I'd really considered riding my Vassago Meatplow V.8, but... excuses.

So, I prepped the Vertigo Meatplow V.7.

New tires from Maxxis to start out the year and not be sliding off the trail so much.

This was my go-to rear tire last year, albeit I ran the EXO version... but they're currently out of stock at the moment.  I'm telling myself the lighter tire will suit the less technical/rocky racing I'll be doing in the earlier part of the year.

Stoked on this Forekaster 2.6.  I love the volume of the Rekon 2.6, but have sometimes wished for a knobblier tire with more/bigger mud-shedding spaces.  I'm debating as to whether or not it's a great idea for the Winter Shart tarck coming up... it's probably not, but it does look so confidence inspiring.

If there's one thing I need, it's confidence.  And fitness.  And this ping pong paddle game.  And this remote control...

I prepped out the Vertigo mostly because the brakes on the Vassago were being warrantied.  Although I thought having some squish up front for some cold, lumpy racing would be nice on my frozen hands, I knew it might be down to the wire getting my brakes back on the bike.

It almost was...

Now they're on there, but the hydro lines need shortened.  That's a process I don't take lightly.  I'm gonna have to stare at any mistakes I make for years to come, so it's not something I generally rush about doing.  Plus, I really wanted to watch The Godfather last night (never seen it).  Even if I took the time to shorten everything up nice and neat, I'd still have to figure out a different tire situation (the DHF/Agressor combo is muy heavy for XC endurance racing).  It would probably mean undoing some of what I've already done to the Vertigo... and I still need to watch The Godfather II tonight.

m'kay.  99% committed to racing this weekend.  75% to the Whole Enchilada, 25% to the Half.

I've found that an exercise in futility is still a form of exercise.