What do you do?

Funny thing - Americans define ourselves largely by what we do for work. If you love your work, then this is a fun question to answer. If you don't, then not so much. Of course I love my job some days and others not so much. It all depends, just like cycling. It's not fun to do VO2 intervals, but it makes racing more fun!

Yesterday I had to work basically all day (on a Saturday), and it involved a training course for surgeons. It was a great time, everyone benefited, the downside was the smell of the cadaver we were working with! For those of you that don't know, my day job is medical sales (spine implants) and I spend most of my days in the OR, in cases - thankfully working with live people! It's an intense, and often stressful job, but very fun and rewarding. This often forces me to train first thing in the morning, on the rollers. It's very efficient, but not always fun. It all comes down to balance. Making sure that you can mentally handle everything in life, while not over or under-filling any one 'bucket' too much. I love the challenge of fitting as much as possible into my days and think it makes for quite a rewarding life. Just remember this when you can't ride or race because of other obligations, the weather, injury, etc.

So what do I do? I sell spine implants, ride my bike, spend as much time as possible with my wife and dog, and work hard doing almost everything. What do you do?

Race Report: GTS#1/2 - Donaldson RR

The first race of the year - it always brings an entertaining mix of emotions, comments, fitness, and usually some crashes. This year was no exception and brought all the usual: riders talking about lack of training, not wanting to do too much, excitement, avoiding crashes, and the big egos that us cyclists tend to carry around like a few extra winter pounds this time of year!

GTS #1 - Donaldson RR:

Saturday was relatively uneventful for the team this year. Andrew had to work, Jacob was preoccupied, and Chris Emory was on a plane. That left the Doctor and I to take up the slack for the team, which we did by basically not doing anything and just staying in the 'safe zone' in the pack, avoiding crashes and testing our early season fitness. Due to some finishing straight shenanigans, there was a big pileup which took about Travis Fender of UNCA, but he landed on his head (no danger of hurting that) and he was acting normal (for him) after the race. Jason & I both finished mid-pack, but the upside was that it was 60, sunny, with a light breeze. We got in an hour before and about 30 minutes after for a solid day of about 3:45.

GTS #2 - Donaldson RR (again):

Sunday could've been boring (sunny, 60, light wind), but NOOO . . . it was about 45 with a steady wind of about 20mph. All I know is we were going 12mph, in a race and it wasn't easy! We had almost the full team out today, minus Jacob. Unfortunately, due to Andrew getting a flat, our number was reduced to 3. After the 1st lap the decisive move went with DLP, Global Bike, Hincapie, Time, Myogenesis, Johnny Clarke - the move of the day. We didn't have anybody up there, so Andrew (pre-flat), Jason, Emory, and myself tried to get in moves, but all were marked. With about 3 to go Chris Emory got away with one other rider and kept a gap. I was able to bridge up with 3 others to form a nice echelon of 6 strong, but we had no chance of catching the break which was 3 minutes up the road. Finally with about 500 meters to go, Chris led out the sprint until a little Canadian rider jumped with Brian Sheedy on his wheel - I hopped on, but couldn't fit between the two of them to get by Brian. I ended up 2nd in the sprint, 10th on the day (although I noticed tonight that the results don't show this!), and Jason finished up in the greatly diminished field. Only about 30 finished out of about 100? Quite a race of attrition I'd say . . .

Does it get any better than this?

So I'm back from Boulder . . . aahhh. What a great time. First on tap during the weekend was a long mountain bike ride with my boy Rob on Saturday - we hit a lot of the local trails in Boulder and, as we always do, had an absolute blast! Rob really made me remember what riding is about - he just loves to get out and ride his bike! At one point after an especially sweet stretch of singletrack we asked each other, 'does it get any better than this?' The truth is, it really doesn't! Getting out with friends or family, enjoying nature, and having fun. That's what life is about!

In addition to Saturday's hammerfest on the trails, I had brunch and massage with my wife in Boulder on Sunday, snowboarding in Breckenridge on Monday, and a long hike Tuesday - plus lots of good food and beer. Now that's a vacation! We also spent a lot of time with Mel and Rob's kids. It made me really think about what is important in life. I hope you all have been enjoying the winter and have taken the down time to take stock and truly think about what you want out of this season, this year, and your life.

Enjoy every day!

Spring Training

So some people do Spring training camps in warmer climes, my wife and I always do a February foray to Colorado for some snow sports. This week we are staying in Boulder with some friends, and I'll be taking advantage of the warm weather today with a 3 hour mountain bike ride before chilling for a couple of days and then getting in some snowboarding before heading back.

While we're out here, I was talking to my friend, Rob, who races mountain bikes (5th place at National MTB Marathon last year) about how our training plans differ. He does almost all his training outside, on the mtb. I do almost all of my training inside, on the trainer! One of the great things about Asheville is the abundance of variety - awesome roads, 500+ miles of trails (which I have yet to take advantage of!), the track, and lots of local racing.

The bottom line is when you're a Masters racer (30+), the hardest thing is balancing training, family, work, and actually having fun on the bike. Any racers need to take motivation into account when it comes to training and racing and its important to not only get in good training miles, but also maintain the mental focus and freshness to achieve your season's goals. As we get right around the corner from the racing season it's important to take stock of your mental focus and see what you can do to improve this area of your training.

Enjoy the great weather this weekend, and have fun!