It's Been a While Since My Last Confession.......

Even I was shocked when I realized it's been over 2 years since my last blog. What happened? Well, like all good addicts I tried to kick the habit. Racing had got a little stale for me and I started telling friends and family I'd retired from racing and was enjoying all the extra time I had on my hands again. I lied. What more can I say?

2010 proved to be a turning point for me in racing. As I wasn't exactly training, multi-day stage racing was out for me, so I dabbled in a few local mountain bike races, enjoyed the summer riding as much singletrack as possible, then got this crazy idea that racing a cyclocross (CX) season in the fall would be fun. It would be low-key because I'd have to start as a category 3 racer and there would be no expectations (from myself) of a particular placement. It went well. What more can I say?

By the middle of the season I'd upgraded to category 1 and managed to squeak a 2nd place overall in the local CX series (SCX - Seattle Cyclocross). At the masters nationals in Bend, OR I was thoroughly delighted with an 8th place finish.

And what was the best part of all of this? Racing was FUN again! Even though I kept up the pretense that I'd retired from racing (CX didn't really count right?) I headed into 2011 knowing that I hadn't kicked the habit one little bit. I stayed fit by racing the local WA mountain bike series during the spring and summer, enjoyed some epic mountain bike rides with friends and now CX season is upon us again. I'm excited.