Cross Nationals Week

It's now half way through the Cyclocross National Championships and I'll have to admit that I'm finding it hard to sit at home and follow along on the computer. Various factors have led me to end my cyclocross season early and even though I know I made a good decision it sure looks like fun! On the positive side I've been home for end of quarter/end of year at Mathgeek work. She has to put in long hours at work so we didn't have to hire a nanny to stay with the boys while I was off racing like we thought we would. Even better is the weather in KC the past week. Unseasonably warm weather has made getting back on the bike pretty easy to do. The slow build up to the road season has begun and even though I'm fat and slow it feels good to ride again.

The KC crew had a good run the first few days of Nationals with quite a few podium places, hope that continues today with the bulk of the masters men racing. Good luck to the KCCX, Ethos, and of course the Nebraska guys.

Not unhappy about missing the railroad tie stairs. It looked like quite a bit of running the other day in the Masters 50-54 race.

Steve Tilford won my category again this year, that makes it something like 6 times or so. Looking at the results I probably could of done pretty well.

Dean Parker had a great race and was on the podium with a 4th place. Finally a podium after a couple of injury prone years. He continues to show the younger guys that you can still go fast in your 60's!

On the other end of the spectrum is Karen Brockett. I've been watching her develop as a rider for the past few years and this year she has really come a long way. She placed 9th in the Junior Women 17-18 category against some tough competition.

What I find interesting is that my coach, Adam Mills from Source Endurance, coaches both of the above athletes. I think it shows real coaching skills to be able to develop training plans for people of all age groups. If you have never used a coach you have no idea how many factors come into play in developing a training plan, or how many times that plan has to adapt to changes in the athletes life. It's pretty easy to notice the change in results when a rider goes from just riding around to using a coach and having a plan.

The climb up to Wyandotte County Lake park, climbing sucks at this point for me. It's amazing how much fitness you lose when you are off the bike for a month.

I went for a long ride with Joe and Adam on the 65 degree day last week and it was awesome. Hard to believe that it's January but I'll take it for now. It would be pretty weird to have a winter with no snow......but we still have a month or so to get some.

This one is for Grampa, all most forgot about the end of the semester at the boys school. Both did well and Curly just missed the all A honor roll. I'll take the A-B honor roll any day. JoBro is finding Middle school tougher to adjust to but he just missed A-B. No worries, he's finally finding his way which makes Mathgeek happy. It's tough to please a former college professor/teacher but at least they have their own tutor in house.

Back to checking out race results while I do chores around the house. Numbers are due at work for Mathgeek today, I might even get out for a ride today!