And Suddenly...

...it's the eve of the first race of the season - the red trolley classic. i think i have everything ready to go. the bike wears new tires, the gear bag is full of all the crap i'll need and a bunch of other crap i probably won't. better safe than sorry, i guess...
this will be my first race ever as a member of a club. but it won't really feel like it since we don't have our team clothing yet.
heck, for all anyone knows, i'm an unattached rider. so that's how i plan to approach it. mr. anonymous. story of my life.


yesterday, me and a few friends held a race simulation on a course very similar to what we'll be racing on tomorrow. i definitely didn't feel great, but there were definitely some positives that i was able to take away from the experience. one being that in spite of not going 100%, i was still able to finish a few feet behind the "winner" who was completely winded. my only real concern was that i didn't feel that desire to really open it up and bring the pain towards the end. this is always what always concerns me the most. mental or physical? does that lack of desire simply mean a lack of fitness?
meh..probably! but i'm feeling good physically and i know i still have a lot of room to improve, which is both encouraging and exciting.

all things considered, i feel that training has gone great to this point. i've lost weight and gained a considerable amount of speed over where i was just a couple of weeks ago. by no means do i feel like i'm fast yet, but being the first race of the season, i have no real expectations beyond simply finishing well. that isn't to say i'll be satisfied with anything less than a top ten finish, though. i have no excuses. but i look at it this way: this block - these first few races of the season - will simply tell me two things. where i am and where i need to be. to me, this is the most important thing right now. just find out where exactly where we stand and adjust. i've done this before.
typically, i'm not feeling like a speedster until early spring, but i'm hopeful for the start of the season, nonetheless. i feel like the main hurdles are the mental ones. and for me, that's a good thing.

it's supposed to rain and blow pretty hard tomorrow, and i only see that as an advantage for me, since (a) a lot of guys simply won't race in the rain, and (b) the guys who do will most likely be reluctant to push the pace into the wind. in any case, i won't be surprised to see some riders really go after it. i'm just wondering how fast the fast guys will be compared to me.

just hurry up and get here, dammit. i wanna get this overwith already.