Saturday, July 29, 2006

Short Update

Racing has been uneventful lately. On July 19th I raced the Memorial Park Crit, and stayed with the pack for over 30 minutes - a major improvement for me. Last weekend I did the Texas State Time Trial (40 km), and sucked it up horribly. Out of 14 riders, I was 11th, over 14 minutes behind the winner. But looking back on it, I can really see my improvement over the past year or so. To average 18.98 mph on my own, over a period of 1hr, 18min, 34sec, is something I couldn't have done a year ago. Since my start in the racing scene last August, and especially since starting with CTS, I can tell that my endurance is up, my thresholds are up, and I'm just stronger overall. I know that the road I've chosen is a long one, so I'm learning to get my satisfaction from these small improvements.

I'm also enjoying the challenge of finding a way to do my workouts when I'm on the road. I've gotten to ride around the Cocoa Beach, Florida, area, as well as rural Maryland just this past week. And I even got to bring my bike with me to South Dakota! The places I've gotten to see are ones I wouldn't have if I didn't need to ride my bike all the time.

Now I'm gearing up for a month of 3 crits and a road race, followed by a month of riding down the West Coast!