In Ashes They Shall Reap

     Things have been kind of crazy lately. Not in a busy kind of way, just taking more of life's punches to the head. They say all things must change and I guess they're right. Things just sneak up on you out of the dark. The shot that brings you down is the one you never heard. It has made me look at things differently. Even the bike. The flame to become a better rider is burning brighter through all the darkness. Riding is my time to think. And my time to unleash what has been stored up inside. I'm a pretty controlled and unemotional person when it comes to my personal life, but that's only because I get my aggression out when I ride. It fuels the fire to crush souls on the bike. The bike is my happy place. The drive to ride and improve takes my mind off things, and I will never let it die.

     I am on a structured training plan for the first time in my life. There's no coach involved though, just me taking what I have learned through failure and what I have read from coaches. I am not against coaching, but I would never pay to have one. To me, training yourself is part of the fun. I want to be self-sufficient when it comes to racing. I don't want to depend of someone else to make me faster. When I succeed, or fail, I want it to be because of me. I've been told I will never get any better doing things myself. Guess we will see.

     Right now, it's all about base miles. Last year, I felt like I never had a good base. I got fast for a while, then fizzled out. I'm just putting in the hours now, getting the legs ready for the intensity they will get in March. I'm wrapping up week 2 of my first 5 week training block. So far, so good. I feel like I have lost very little to this point. The weather has been shit, but I have made the most of it and endured. I did 3 rides last weekend for more than 3 hours in the snow. I am really liking the new bike. Even with the snow, my lap times have been consistently 5 minutes faster than they were last year at this time. I even got in a night ride in the snow Christmas night.

Even my Mom came out to play in the snow.

A still shot from the helmet cam as I followed Snoop

Snow night ride!

After 5 laps on the trail, I cooled down with a nice spin on the road.

     Keith and I even rode a few hours in the cold rain on Wednesday. It kind of sucked while we were out there, but it was fun at the same time. I guess I'll never understand why not being able to feel your hands, feet, face, or skin on your legs is fun, but dammit it is!

     Yesterday, Keith and I went for a road ride. It was the first warm day we have had in a month. It felt good to get out wihtout being bundled up like a mummy. The wind was awful though, pushing us all over the road with 35+ mph gusts. When I was changing before the ride, the wind was blowing my shoes down the road. That's when you know it's going to be a tough day on the bike.We rode north of Clarksville to Fairvue on some of the flattest roads you can ride. Our target destination was the Jefferson Davis Monument that I rode to last month. We had a killer tailwind on the way out. We were rolling 26 mph for the majority of the ride to the monument without even pedaling! We paid the price on the way back, averaging just 13.0 mph for the last 25 miles.

A familiar sight for my winter rides

Keith was determined to get the perfect shot of the monumant

     Last night, I celebrated New Year's Eve with a little BMX at Marty Pierce's house. If you have raced for more than a few years, you probably know of Marty. He has always been a badass on the road and mountain bike. He's the brother of Jeff Pierce, winner of a stage of the Tour de France. Marty and I used to ride together a lot when I first started racing. He hasn't raced much the past few years and I haven't seen him at all. He's gotten into BMX lately with his two sons. They invited me over for a little jam session last night. I took my KHS dirt jumper and played on the quarter pipe. Marty let me ride his BMX bike too. It was my first time on a 20". Didn't take long for me to get the hang of it. We really pushed each other with bunnyhopping some boards. Both of us jumped higher than we ever have before. It was really fun. I'm feeling it today. Three hours of BMX after nearly 5 hours of road riding has left me with sore shoulder and forearms. Can't wait to go do it again! Hope you all are having a Happy New Year!