Mid Year review

Well so far I have raced 25 times this year.
19 times as a Cat 4.
As a cat 4 I have racked up 6 top tens, two 7th place finishes, a fifth, a fourth, and three very frustrating 11th places. Except for 4, all of my results are top 20.
Some How I racked up 50 Socal Cup series points which puts me tied with three other guys for 14th place in the Cat 4 SoCal cup.
I have 8 USCF upgrade points.

I am already registered for the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix, Paramount Crit, Sisquoc, and SLO and I have my eye on several more in the SoCal scene as well a couple Road Races up North.

What all this means I'm not sure. I did calculate entree fees and approx food/travel/lodging charges as well but I feel entirely too embarrassed at the amount to post it here. Suffice it to say I have invested a large amount of time and money into this bike racing deal in only a little over a year.

The real question I guess would be is it all worth it? What does one really gain from cycling? What does one have to give up and sacrifice to race at the amateur level?

Bicycling has got to be one of the hardest sports in the world on the amateur level. To be even remotely competitive I train any where from 12 to 20 hours a week am in the best shape of my life and still get smoked in these races.

Rarely a weekend goes by where I am not in transit to a race somewhere in California. If there isn't a race I am riding between 6-10 hrs a weekend. I'm usually in bed by 9 or 10 and (for the most part) watch what I eat.

And I wouldn't train if for anything in the world. I feel super lucky to have stumbled upon the sport of cycling and even luckier to live in a place that is so conducive to training. I can take a bike path for 9 of the 12 mile ride into work... I have a host of friends and mentors on the bike who put up me, and train and inspire me.
Heck I even got my job thanks to cycling.
Cycling is a key component in my spirituality.
It makes life that much more bearable and make sense.

I guess the point is I owe cycling a lot and recently have been having a lot of fun racing. The goal at the beginning of the year was to upgrade to a Cat 3. While that was a great goal, the problem I was having was I wasnt focused on the race, only the result and I was getting frustrated with the crits, where all the training/ fitness in the world wont help you if you cant hold position coming around that last corner. Then my goals sort of shifted. I started thinking about doing well where I was at rather than upgrade upgrade upgrade. I feel good on the bike. I'm starting to feel more confident at cornering and descending, just broke 16 minutes climbing OSM last month, had a string of 3 top ten finishes in my last three races, and am having about as much fun as I could imagine while doing it. The upgrade will come when It comes.

Looking forward I have some great opportunities for growth with the races coming up. 2 crits, a circuit race and a road race. I also have set some pretty specific goals to focus on during these races. In the next two crits coming up, my goal is to pay attention to course and mark a point where I am going to jump for the sprint. I normally am jumping either too early or too late So at Manhattan beach and paramount I am going to focus on position coming into the last corner and have a set landmark where I will 'Open er up'. In sisquoc My goal is going to be patience. I am going to ride near the front, but not on the front, and let others initiate attacks and merely respond... There are no primes to be won in a RR and I've witnessed first hand the rarity of successful breaks at the Cat 4 level. I have spent way too much energy off the front/ attacking too early in these Road Races. In SLO my goal is to finish in a break. The course is perfect for a break and really suits my strengths. So I will attack with the fury of a thousand pythons and I will not stop until I go into cardiac arrest or get dropped.

Just a couple thoughts on the season so far and where I would like to head.

In other news I started school again and summer semesters are hard. I am only taking one lit class and I cant even believe the amount of reading and writing that is expected. I feel like college is like a mirage at this point. I see it hovering somewhere in the distance but every time I start to walk towards it it disappears. One pedal stroke at a time I guess.