I gave it a shot

I again undeleted this blog.

Back in October of last year, I decided, almost rather on a whim, that I'd try to race on the road in 2009. Lots of great things happened culminating from this decision: I lost over 25 pounds in my bid for fitness, I rode stronger than I had since 2000, and I had some fun training. But, in all honesty, I didn't have that much fun at all racing. Of the 4 races I did, 3 of them were complete busts. I often dreaded the thought of racing the night before. It was a huge stress factor in my life.

But there is also this--bike racing has become incredibly, almost unreachably, expensive for someone like me. Fundamentally, that is the starkest change in the sport, even compared to the last year I raced seriously, which was, arguably, in 2000. It's not a cheap sport to begin with, but my God--equipment is at least twice as expensive as it once was, as are entry fees. When racing out of Lincoln, NE in the mid 1990s, we always thought an expensive entry fee was $15.00. And you could almost always win a little money to get your expenses back. Isn't so anymore. My family, with the help of my wife's part time work, just lives on my salary. I do not have a high paying job. I cannot legitimately sacrifice a chunk of this salary to enter a Cat 3 race that I would probably, in all honesty, suck at.

But in some ways, racing scene appears to be very much the same. Pretty elitist, a lot of folks who take it way too seriously, but I've also got some great friends in the peleton. To be honest, the sport was actually far more unfriendly and elitist in the 1980s when I was racing as a junior than it is now. A lot more mainstream athletes got into it, it appears, when the huge boom in road cycling took place (from 1998 through 2006, I'd say). Back in 1985 it was a fringe sport, still, that really seemed to attract fringe people. Not that such as thing was completely bad, because it also had the punk rock quality to it that now seems to be missing to a certain extent. But, folks are just generally more friendly who are associated with racing these days. Its nice.

There is something quite different in my whole approach to "non-racing," as it were, however. I don't want to lose this fitness--and I also don't want to be 217 pounds again. Stepping on the scales and seeing 189 as a reading back in June was revelatory. That is 28 pounds that I lost in 6 months. I've gained back about 8 since then, but that's all I want to gain back. Ever.

I'd also like to be fit enough that if, say, in May of 2014 (I'll still just be in my early 40s then!) I might decide to do some Masters 40+ races. I'd like to be able to punch up my training for a month and hit it--go up to Quad Cities or maybe even do a couple of crits in St. Louis.

My priorities are very different now. I've got another little girl on the way in early November. I need to concentrate on my career. I don't like leaving my family from 3 or 4 hours on weekends to do a ride. I got my base in this Spring--I don't want to lose that base fitness again for years to come.

That's my update for now. Monkeysaspets is again alive . . .