Tuesday, February 24, 2009

1st Race of 2009

Well, Sunday (2/22/9) was the first road race of the year. "Froze Toes." I think it was 27 degrees when we started about 12:45 pm. I couldn't even tell which way the wind was blowing. I raced cat. 5 masters. 31 miles and I finished top 10 in my race. It was fun and I felt pretty good. I rode hard and now I am ready to start race training. My team has a ride 3/8/9. The Sunday after that is the first crit race of the season. I sure am having fun and want to buy a bunch of new stuff...

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

New Beginning

This all re-started when my oldest son graduated from U of I. He raced on their road racing team. When he moved back home, he asked me to go for a little ride with him. I hadn't ridden in about 12 years. The last race I was in was a TT, about 20 years ago. The last season I had actually raced was over 25 years ago. But, he said that it would just be a short 12 mile ride. It sounded like a fun loop down to the River Road and back up State Street Hill. I used to go out every night after work and sprint State Street Hill 10 times in a row and not even breath hard. The problem was, I apparently forgot how to ride a bike. I couldn't keep my balance. I felt like we were riding 50 mph. I'm sure my heart rate was about 300. When we got to the end of our street, I had to try to get my water bottle without crashing. But I couldn't drink because I was breathing too hard. When I tried to return the bottle to it's cage, I dropped it. I nearly crashed when it bounced off of the rear wheel. Of course, I couldn't make it up State Street Hill. I couldn't breath, I couldn't get a drink, my heart was about to break ribs, and I was actually starting to cramp. I still had about 3 miles to go, mostly up hill.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Old man look at my life...

I'm a lot like you are. Only now I'm slow and can't sprint up hills like I used to. I don't even want to talk about what I used to do. I'm just glad I started cycling again. I love it. And now that I'm slow, I can enjoy the scenery. All of my good friends are cyclists. Most are in their twenties, some in their forties and some...well, some are older.
We are all hooked on cycling. Most of us worked in a bike shop or two. Cycling is addictive. They come out with new models every year. New gear is advertised just to see what kind of response they get before it is ever mass produced. The clothing only lasts a season or until the first contact with the pavement. Tools, tubes, tires, tape...I could go on and on.
I guess that is what a blog is all about. Going on and on.