Cautiously Optimistic

I'm cautiously optimistic about the upcoming cyclocross season. It's been a long time since I've posted, but I've been getting in some good training. I've mostly been focusing on longer efforts to try to build up my threshold power.

I've been going to the Thursday night gravel road rides for the past couple weeks. I've been able to hang better than I expected. I'm still getting dropped by the really fast guys, but I seem to be doing well in that next group.

I had intended to do a couple late-season mountain bike races, but life has interfered a bit, so it looks like I'm done racing mountain bikes until Iceman. I'm planning to do the Kisscross race in Grand Rapids this weekend, and then I'm heading to Baltimore for Charm City the following weekend. I'll get some indication from those races, but I won't really see how I stack up against the local cyclocross competition until Munson on Oct 1.

I've been pretty motivated lately. Part of it is that I'm excited just to be racing 'cross. Part of it is also that my optimism hasn't been tempered by reality yet. Motivation is harder to come by when you're getting shelled every weekend... that's definitely been part of my problem with mountain bike races this year. I feel like I'm too fast for Sport, but not quite fast enough for Expert. I need to think about that for next year, or, just get faster!