Watching Levi in the individual TT stage of the Tour of California yesterday got the blood pumping in me again. Been a while since I felt that. It got me thinking more about this year. I had no plans to race at all with the exception of The Tree Farm Relay. It's hard to not want to go back and defend our team title.
But I question whether I will be able to be ready to race by then. I have enough time to get ready but not sure if I will have the drive to get where I need to be. Obviously I will not be as fast as I was last year. I'm sure with some work I could get myself back somewhere between a CAT-2 and CAT-1 racer. But to get back to the Podium in CAT-1.....I've missed 3 months of training and at this level you need to stay on the pedals all year round to keep up with the pack.
The other issue is a bike to race. I have barrowed bikes in the past. At Bloomer last year my bike had some serious mechanicals on the first lap so I came around ready to pull out of the race. But the Captain said we needed the points so he hooked me up with his team bike and sent me back out to finish. Then at the Brighton Stage race I used Wrench's team bike for the Short Track event because his was better suited for that race. In fact I still owe him for that one because taking 4th in that race helped me to finish on the podium for the sum of the entire 3 races that weekend. My bike tho, oh I miss it. I know people say it's not the bike it's the condition of the rider on it but that bike was built to go fast and man did it do just that.
At the Tree Farm I believe a full suspension bike tracks better. Since I don't have mine anymore I would have to build another one by then but it's just isn't in my budget. Even with the team discounts it'll cost me about $2,000 to build another sub 25 pound full suspension bike, and that's without the wheels.
So I guess I have some things to figure out for this season. I need to make up my mind in the next couple weeks tho because if I am going to commit to the Relay I need to get back on the trainer.
In the mean time, I hope all my team mates and race foes are still training hard. It's great to see others reach their goals and I know they all have their sights set this year. Hang in the everyone. Only two more months until the season starts!!!
