Two race weekends are in the books.  It feels good to finally to get that first one out of the way.  For some reason it didn't feel like it was my first race of the year though, like it normally does.  Usually the first time I pin it, I'm stuck racing at 80% but it feels like I'm going 110%.  This time for whatever reason, it felt like I was almost 100% already.  I actually had some gas in the tank.  Not sure why, since I'm so far behind in my training schedule because of the whole knee deal, but I'll take it.

That's not to say I won the race, cause I didn't.  The hefty prize list attracted some heavy hitters.  Nick Waite, Rob Marion, and Scott Frederick were the three that made up the lead group with me just a few seconds back. Rode the whole race by myself and came home 4th, doesn't sound impressive, but it's a super good sign for me this early.  Plus those guys live down south and don't have to deal with quite the same weather all winter, so really, I was the first placed yankee.

The second race this last weekend was my first 'drop handlebar' bike race.  I hit up the Philly Phlyer collegiate road races with some of the other guys from the Ship cycling team.  Having never done a single road event in my life, they would only let me race in the B field...

To keep from feeling like a total sandbagger, I figured I needed to work pretty hard for whatever placing I got so I took a shot at a solo breakaway in the 4 lap circuit race, which ended up working.  I went off the on the first climb of the first lap and held a fairly steady gap of 30sec to 1 min to the finish.  Feeling pretty smoked from that effort, I did what I could to repeat in the crit on Sunday.  I got away for 2 or 3 laps towards the beginning but couldn't hold anything, so I resorted to sitting on the front of the group taking pulls that lasted an entire lap.  Made one last solid surge to the front at the start of the last lap, and held the lead through the last corner to take second in the sprint.

And thats all I got.

Drove from PA to almost Cuba

My last spring break.  Well, its supposed to be...

Daytona has always been a sort of home away from home.  I've coming down here since I can remember. (15 years?)  My grandparents have lived here for years, and my parents just bought a place a few years ago so I have grown some psuedo-roots down here.  I just wish the riding was better.  Last spring, I came down for a week with the Experience to get in a good mini training camp culminating with a sweet XC race.  We did put in a solid week, but we used up just about all the rides that I know of around here.  Without spending 3 hours round trip in the car, we're limited to either a sandy 5 miles of singletrack or going shoulder to shoulder with traffic on 4 lane highways.

This year, I set up my schedule so that I didn't have to worry about getting in a ton of saddle time while I was down here.  Rest weeks really lend themselves to having a worthwhile vacation.

We're just getting back from a few days in Key West with the spring break crowd.  Had a super good time with Jen and the parents.  (Doesn't everyone spend spring break with they're parents??)  Rented a scooter for the day and enjoyed some throttle twisting for the day, while also confirming the notion that it won't be long until I get a moto.  Probably the new Triumph Tiger 800 that I saw in the demo fleet last week at the speedway during Bike Week.  Street shows, live music, beach bumming, huevos rancheros, and trying not to be a victim of a huge tourist trap.  Its hard to stop eating all the key lime pie that I bought.

Two more days in Daytona, then leaving towards home on Friday to hit the first MTB race of 2011.  Can't wait. Lots of driving.

So whats been going on?

The off season was a good one.  I started back at school, with only 2 more semesters left.  I should be graduating by December '11.  It only took 6 years...

I kept busy with a moderate amount of snowshoeing whenever possible, did some weight lifting, and kept on the bike at least a day or two per week so I didn't get too slow this year.

The biggest addition to my training this year has been a pilates class at the Rec Center twice a week.  That is the hardest thing I have ever done!  I feel like I'm in pretty good shape even when it comes to doing things that aren't just riding a bike, but I struggled with finishing these sessions for weeks.  It took about 2 months until I could finish the whole class without stopping and taking a break, but now I can't get enough of it.  Hopefully the benefits will be noticeable on the bike with a more stable core but I already seem to have a lot less upper-body movement too throughout the ride.  Plus my whole body doesn't feel worked over after a ride, just my legs which makes recovery easy too.

I just got back on the bike about 3 weeks ago, after a banged up knee from a crash at the beginning of January.  It was just a stupid little crash having fun on snow covered trails, but it ended up being a little bit more and kept me on the couch for a bunch of weeks.  I'm glad thats over.  So I jumped right back into the big miles and just finished my first big block of the season.  It's awesome to see past years of training starting to come back and pay dividends now.  Last year during the winter, I bumped up my base block to quite a bit more than I've ever done before, more than I thought I could even handle but its starting to pay off.  What was hard for me to finish last year, seems like cake this year, mostly in the way of day to day recovery and being able to handle a series of 4 or 5 big hard days strung together in a block.  I think its proof that going beyond what your used to really pays off, even it happens a little ways down the road and even if it feels like way too much at the time.  Know the difference between your head being tired and your body being tired.

My race schedule for 2011 will be a lot more local than the last 2 years.  Partly because of the whole school thing and needing to take summer courses, and because of where at the ProTour events are this year.  I'll have a couple of big events, like the Wisconsin ProTour, some Triple Crown events, and a bunch of AMBC's.  Plus one other thing that isn't totally finalized but would be kinda a big deal.

Now that the snow is all gone and temps are getting warmer, its not taking as much coaxing to get myself out the door and the miles are coming a lot easier.  This week won't take any coaxing though, I'm in Daytona Beach just in time for a rest week.  Lots of easy spinning, napping, laying by the pool, and tan-line work.  I've only been here for 10 hours and there already burned in.