It had been a while since we had gone on a road trip not associated with racing, so after all the stress of work/racing/training it was great to get out last weekend and go camping in Downieville!  Three days of riding up there and it was really hard to come home.  I can't think of a better way to spend our 5th anniversary!

I didn't compete in the 12hrs of Temecula but I have been training with Allison and I devoted myself to making sure she had the best possible race.  She did awesome and I am very proud of her.  I would never have expected her to finish first in solo women (she beat all solo female competitors including the pro riders).

I have decided to do my best to improve my fitness over the next few months.  I will be hitting the gym two days a week to maintain upper body strength for DH racing, riding lots of road miles (commuting to work, lunch rides), and putting in as much time on the mountain bikes as I can muster.  I hope to find some time and training partners for DH, but it is difficult and fuel costs don't make it easier.  Most of my time will be spent on the XC bike.

I keep thinking about what my racing schedule should look like for next year.  I would like to make sure that everything lines up and I can do some races that will be both enjoyable and give me a good shot at podium spots.  So far I think I will shoot for Counting Coup, Keyesville, Downieville, and the local races.  I may give the endurance racing thing a shot since I am training with Allison anyway.  At some point I am sure that I will reach a level that I can no longer compete in so many disciplines.  I will be forced to narrow my focus and I really don't know what specific area I would pick.  If only there were more races like Keyesville and Downieville, all-mountain races that rewarded a well rounded athelete, then I think that would be my primary focus!

Not much racing going on lately.

This past weekend I rode a 54 mile training ride with the wife at Vail Lake in preparation for her assault on the 12hrs of Temecula.  It was a good ride.  I don't think I am cut out for the short lap endurance races though.  I like to feel like all that pedalling and work gets me somewhere!

Sunday we did some shuttle runs for my birthday.  It was a lot of fun.  I was told that I couldn't post pictures from the ride.  Sucks that DH riders have to be clandestine with their riding spots.  Oh well.  We rode some sickeningly steep stuff.  I think I rode okay, but I really need to get more time in on the DH stuff.  Hopefully I can find some good training places this summer.

Monday we went to the BMX track after work.  I was having a blast airing out my Lunchbox on the big jumps untill I came up short on a big jump.  I tore up my left side pretty good.  Lots of missing flesh and bruising.  Broke my DJ lid, it was the first time I had ever worn it!

 I did this jump a bunch of times, then crashed when I tried to pull the second one too...

This weekend is going to be low key.  I am supporting the wife's 12hr Solo effort and hope to get a road ride in on Sunday.  Can't wait for our Downieville trip!!!

I tried too hard this past weekend.

Instead of just racing at my usual 85%, I went all out.  I wanted to see if I could lay down one run maxed out.  I couldn't.  With the two run format it gave me a chance to recover after crashing twice in my first run.  Couldn't do that either.  I crashed again even harder in my second run.  I was sort of disappointed in my performance, but I think that this phase of crashing and learning is important for me to be able to compete at a higher level.  In any case I got 6th place and am pretty sore this week.  I am not sure there is a spot on me that isn't sore.  Makes it hard to train!

That leads me to some thoughts...

I have been training really hard lately.  Lifting weights, riding lots of miles, doing intervals/hill repeats, etc.  The funny thing about all that is that I am in great shape and getting faster at XC, but have neglected my DH skills.  I am thinking about trying to focus some attention on XC, and race in the 12 hrs of Temecula.  It is very challenging for me to race XC.  I really don't have the right build for it and I don't think I am particularly good at it.  I feel I am much better at DH racing.  What to do?  I don't really know.

In any case this coming weekend should be a good mix.  I will be doing a ton of XC miles training with the wife on Saturday and then doing a bunch of shuttle runs on Sunday for my B-day.  Should be fun!