ketchup

Sorry for the delay. I’m sure you, my loyal readers, have been beside yourself wondering what’s going on. My apologies.

‘Cross is done for the season. I almost made the Triple C my last event but something was tugging at me to do one more race. I finished up with the final event in the PA CX Series at Wonderland in Lancaster, which doubled as the PA States race as well. I had no real aspirations to crush the competition as I’ve raced the Elite Masters category in the PA Series this season. It was a good learning experience racing the old guys. I have a tremendous amount of respect for these fellas and I hope I at least showed I belong. For the most part these guys have been doing cx longer than any and really have it dialed. At any rate, Wonderland was another serious slop-fest. Lots of running. Refer back to Lehigh/T-town for my thoughts on running. This time was different though. I was doing this race purely and solely because I love ‘cross. I was happy to finish the season healthy and wiser than when I started.

Thoughts on this season. It IS possible to race solidly without ever actually “training”. I rode a fair amount. I made my rides hard when it felt good to go hard. I never felt burned out. I figured out my CyclingPeaks software a little better and used my PowerTap to my advantage. I never rode two hours when I only felt like one and a half. Somehow, it worked out ok.

Also, by not putting expectations on myself to finish top 10 or top 15 or whatever, I took further pressure off myself and just went out and raced as hard as I could and lived with the results, good or bad. Sure, there were times I felt great about things and times I wished I did better. But, as a whole, I’m happy.

Thoughts on next season. Probably take the same approach. I will make every attempt to work on my glaring weakness. I can’t run. I loathe the run. One-third(2) of the races I did involved a serious amount of running. At Lehigh, 4th thru 8th(me) was separated by 1:20. I couldn’t run to save my skin that day. Perhaps a little running in advance of cx season will aid my cause.

I’d like to race a larger number of events next season. I’m still feeling my way in this race scene. It’s crazy to see some of these guys racing from April thru December. I find it hard to focus on 10 weeks. It was awesome to have The Wifey and TLW attend a few of my races. It’s not easy packing up a 10month old and hanging out in a field for 2-3hrs while I do my thing. That should get easier as time goes on.

Enough about that.

Little Haley is doing amazingly well. I declared she was officially walking on Thanksgiving Day and she thanked me by refusing to work on her craft again until a few days ago. She seems to have found her bravery again and is steaming ahead full gas on walking skills. 13 days until Haley officially leaves infancy and hits toddler-ness. One year old. That will be fun.

She has taken a real affection for eating oranges with her dad. I love oranges. When I sit down to eat an orange, it’s not just one orange. Two or three is the norm although years ago I remember eating 6,7, sometimes 8 oranges in a sitting. Love ‘em. Haley will practically crawl up my legs to get a chunk of citrus. She clamors for as much as I’ll give her. Earlier this week she was suffering from a cold so all the vitamin C was doing her some good.

Two more days of work and I’m done for ’07. that will be nice. No plans. Maybe a little shopping. Hang with my two wonderful ladies. I will visit a fast food joint for the first and only time this year. Probably Wendy’s and probably that double patty jalapeno cheddar artery clogger thing. Watch some good xmas movies. Ride a bike or two. No doubt shovel some white shat that’s fallen from the sky.

That’s all.