Spring journal catch up.
Did a major project in the basement and basically took from January through March off the bike with hardly any riding and just a little skiing mixed in. Ramped up some riding, lifting and skiing in March before a trip to Park City where I skied my balls off for 7 days straight. Came back and jumped right into riding without much planning and probably riding too hard, too much. I knew I would have a big break in June going to Key West for 10 days and figured I'd tried to build as much as I could before then and given my training load was around 8 hrs a week, never really thought I could over do it. I was wrong and I started to feel heavy legs all the time and not super motivated. I tried a half assed rest week but it wasn't enough. I actually think the root cause was the heavy lifting, riding and week of skiing just tearing down my muscles to the point of no return.
Apparently drinking Pina Coladas for 10 days in Key West was the must needed rest my body needed. The week before our trip I had a come to Jesus and realized that as much as I like riding on the Grants trail, doing it 24/7 was getting a little old and I needed something else, that something being to get back on the mountain bike. I talked to Casey, who was supportive, and then my buddy Mark Stika basically made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I picked up his Epic HT Pro two days before we left. I ordered a bunch of stuff and was just as excited to come home from vacation as I was going, which is saying a lot. We got back late the night before the first dirt crit and there was no way I could make that and hoped I could get comfortable on the bike before #2.
First ride was great but the rear brake blew out completely so it was tough. Got a really good ride in the next day at Greensfelder and was amazed that my fitness wasn't in the gutter and I was riding a mountain bike after a 11+ year hiatus pretty well. I was also amazed that after a few days of hard riding I was still feeling totally refreshed.
I was super amped and committed to going all out until I blew up at the dirt crit just to see what happened. I got a great start and was feeling amazing, in the front group of about 10; super relaxed riding well and able to close gaps when needed. Then I looked at my watch and realized we had only been racing for 20 mins. That was hard. I pushed on. I worked my way up to 6th or so and the person in front of me let the gap grow a little and I wasn't confident enough to pass and chase it down, which probably wouldn't have lasted too long anyway.
Don't remember too much, other than I was staying away from the chase group and keeping the leaders at about the same distance. I was able to push all the way through and never felt negative, always motivated.
I finished 5th, my best dirt crit result in the last 3 years and I was stoked.
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