California here I come

I know my posts have been trickling in lately. I really do not have much to share right now since I am off the bike. I am doing one thing right and that is just taking it easy. I might be taking it too easy. I said screw the diet right now and screw any sort of physical activity. It was hard at first but now it is so easy. It is going to bite me in the ass though being lazy. But the nice thing is that it has provided me with a lot of time to reflect on my season and my goals both personal and cycling related. As for work it is so slow right now. I have put my resume up on the job sites and am getting contacted, so all in all I am not to worried. I am just worried my riding my take a hit. We will see. I seem to be in the drivers seat on what I want to do.

I fly to California tomorrow night and will be able to get together with my friends and family. My dad and I are planning on going out for a ride. Hopefully more than one. I told him I am out of shape already. He is going to feel real good kicking my ass. Me being his kid and I am half his age it should be a self esteem builder for him. I have been riding my Mnt bike to work down the street and can already feel the affects of lack of riding. But going out on a 40-50 mile ride with my dad will be fun. I will probably get it back during the ride. I just know that since I picked the bike back up he has picked it up. My dad and I are super competitive with each other when it comes to riding. I am sure he is going to try something to get me. We used to just try to make each other miserable during rides especially when he knew I did not ride for a couple weeks. I remember he would always set a blistering pace at the beginning of a ride and it would just get to me, like I needed a warm up. I would be stronger later in the ride. But we would try to ditch each other at the most vulnerable times. That might be why I was stronger when I was younger. Or maybe it was a few years of riding. I might even suggest Oak Glen (1 mile high climbing race for Redlands Bicycle Classic) the front side because it does not have this mile of 16% grade that is a leg breaker the back side has. That is a lot of climbing but I sure miss the descents that I used to do(I have seen 60 mph). It is also the beginning of apple season and that means apple sauce cookies and apple crisps. So after an hour of climbing that stuff is a great snack.

But if I feel up to it I would love to do my old team ride. I used to love those rides. We would get 20 -50 guys together and pace line it up a canyon. We set blistering paces and would attack each other. I would end up in a break with some guys and we would race to the top of the canyon and wait for the rest. It was so much fun. I used to make breaks work. I use to be so great at training rides that my race performance would be mediocre. During the winter thats what I did on the weekends. I did not ride during the week just go out and hammer 2 times a week. This year I have done so much better result wise. I used to be the guy who would always place outside of the top 10. I was a 15th-30th place rider all the time. So there is something to be said of riding controlled rides all by yourself.

I saw my coach on Sunday and we went over my season. He asked me what my goals are. And one was to race the whole season and not to be burnt by now. So my season is going to be moved back a little bit. I like being strong early in the season also. Just so many variables. We also looked over my training. The odd thing was that it looked like I peaked after my peak. Like a month after my peak in my training I was my strongest. Luckily I am going to be training with my Ibike and it should shed some light if my perception matches my actual performance. My Preliminary goals for next year are:

1. Upgrade to a 3 with points.
2. Get down to 175-180 in weight.(hence this binge in unhealthy eating when in california)
3. Do a 40k tt in 56 minutes.
4. Climb and TT better.

I think all of these are goals that I can hit or get pretty close to. I know the tt one is going to be the challenge. The 3 with points will happen I am sure. But the weight is my biggest obstacle. I know I can do it but will have to be super disciplined. My coach is going to monitor my diet also. I know that I will be real good then. I have a degree in psychology and know about how it is amazing how well people do when they just write down what they are eating, smoking, or what ever they are trying to change. So there is going to be more involvement from my coach this year which excites me. I think he sees that I am no bullshit guy who pays him to write a plan but then I do my own thing. I really want to do well next year. I told him I am not at the level of being strong all the time I remember. And there is this invisible barrier that I feel that is holding me back from being great on the bike. My limiters this year so far have been climbing and riding off the front. I know for sure there would have been one time this year I swear I could have done it but was plagued with mechanical problems. I want to ride away from a 4s field next year really bad. Just like the guys at UMD did this year. That is the point I want to be at. I am excited and getting jazzed about training every day I am off the bike. That is good that I am taking time off and it is re-energizing my enthusiasm for this sadistic sport.