Post holiday report

Merry X-Mas!!!
Even though we got nailed with some snow to make Christmas a lovely and snowy affair, I was able to get out for a couple of nice hard sessions on the roads....while there is a lot of sand on the roads, they're pretty much dry so for my sanity I went out and braved some chilly temps rather than sit and spin on the trainer (if you can't tell yet, I hate that friggin' thing).

I did manage to make the idiot move of the season by committing to running a St. Patrick's Day 10k road race with my sister-I am not a runner, I have never been a runner, and I am now "officially" an idiot (prior to this move, that status was safely in the "unofficial" category). So if anyone would care to send me a sensible 3 month training plan to be able to survive a 10k race, please respond here!

The 2008 schedule is beginning to take shape:
-St. Patrick's Day running road race in March
-Marblehead Neck cycling road race in April
-Sterling MRC road race in May
-Harpoon B2B in June
-24 hours of Great Glen in August

I'm going to try some crits this summer too-I'm pretty nervous about this though as the reputation that crits have is crash city and I am really not looking too forward to getting hurt. But I am really motivated to earn some upgrade points in cross next season and I need to improve my fitness for those types of races-so that this going to be my '08 goal.

What are your's?

Trainer blues

Ohmigod I am in serious trouble! After only 4 trainer sessions due to over a foot and a half snow outside I am hating the thing already!!!! It looks like it's going to be a serious winter so I am going to have to sharpen up the tools and get ready for some ice climbing! The last time I was out sinking the picks I had the pleasure of climbing with Barry Blanchard, alpine extraordinaire from Canada. This guy is cool as hell, and just an amazing mountaineer. Moves that just completely stumped me he would glide through. Better still is his ability to teach and guide. When I finally was able to suss out a particular problem (with his tutelage) he seemed more stoked on it than I. The Mt. Washington Ice Fest is not to be missed if you're a climber looking to spend a day with the superstars of the sport and improve your technique. If my two partners hadn't become friggin' hockey dads.......

Well, I really ought to go ride that damn thing-if I slack on that I have to really do something stupid like start running!

Snow, sledding, the Pats, and Timmy J...

Well, the weather pros were a bit off in their predictions this time....the 3 inches turned into a helluva lot more than that!!

So my plan to try and get out for a couple hours this morning on the cross bike turned into the first sleddin' day of the year with the girls and the neighborhood kids. We had a blast and the old guy actually managed to make a couple of turns on the plastic snowboard that was present. Even our 12 year old mutt Maggie was out goofin' off in the snow.

After checking the various cycling pages after the first round of snow sliding, I was thrilled to see that Tim Johnson pulled off the big win in the cold and mud in KC!!! What an awesome race-based on what I've read thus far, it sounds like it was an epic affair with Jonathon Page battling all the way to the very end. Sounds like Treefarm got taken out by another rider crashing out which is unfortunate. But I have to admit that I'm always pulling for the New England folks so I am psyched that he won.

I'm pretty sure that he's decided to ride in Europe and hit the Worlds this year, and I'm psyched to watch him wear the stars and stripes next season.

In other news, the Pats continued their roll toward peeeeeeeeeeeeeeerfection! Hysterical watching the New England faithful hucking snowballs around the stadium during the game.

Let's give this a whirl...

Well I have had fun perusing the blogs of my club teammates and I'd figured I'd give it a whirl!

This weekend in picturesque Kansas City, the US National Cyclocross Championships are going on in the middle of some pretty eratic weather-looks like the folks from New England are giving the crowd a strong run based on the podiums-Bavineau and Keough plus Cort Cramer posting a top 20-which is awesome! Kevin Hines throwin' down with Tilford is great to see as well. Nice work also by the other MRCers that made the trek: Jorge, Lowry, the Goguen clan, Rich, Rob "I have had zero mechanical luck this year" Bauer, and anyone I may have forgotten? GD's late season form would have been a threat, too bad he didn't make the trip!

My first experience with Nationals was as a spectator last year down in Rhode Island and it's just amazing to see the speed and skills present across the fields. I expect to see 'amazingness' when the elites sprint off the line, but the level of competition across the masters men and women's fields is pretty impressive. I love watching skilled riders going over the barriers-to me they look like expert bump skiers, their heads seeming to stay on the same plane with just their lower bodies zipping by-it's poetry in motion. Me on the other hand....well, I have work to do, let's just leave it at that.

As a newbie to 'cross, my goal for next year is to earn some upgrade points and consistency. I want to do the MRC proud. Most of my results this year were top half which isn't all that bad considering that I have limited racing experience overall. But now the motivation is there to work hard and get better! I need to consistently put in base miles this winter and spring, and then work toward tuning the engine for cross season. Doing my best to keep up the MRC dudes should help!

Good luck to the MRC crew in KC and all the New England riders hittin' it this weekend!!! As for me...well, I'm relegated to trainer sessions at night and finishing the deck railings by day.