Mixed Feelings

How should I feel about the week that just ended?  I rode a total of 187 miles and that’s not bad.  I watched every stage of the Giro d’Italia and the Tour of California.  On Thursday, for the first time in 2011, I did an out-and-back ride to Eden on the Eisenbahn State Trail.  (I really like that ride and I do it several times each year.)  On Friday morning I attended Bike-to-Work Day and on Saturday I had fun on the best-attended Washington County Bicycle Club ride in recent memory.  The WCBC’s “Random Lake Roller” attracted 17 riders.  The highest attendance last year was just 11.  More is better.

On the downside, I’m not sure I’m any more prepared for mountain bike racing.  I practiced at Glacial Blue Hills on Tuesday and at New Fane on Friday, but those were humbling experiences that tested the limits of disc brakes more than my fitness.  Today I had planned to ride at Greenbush for the first time ever, but I settled on a solo road ride instead.  There’s no way I want to go into Saturday’s WEMS race without some experience on the Greenbush trails, so I have to get up there this week.  Ideally, I’ll go a couple of times including Friday, a vacation day for me.  Team Pedal Moraine has scheduled trail work on Friday and I’ll help with that, then ride.

The week ahead will make many demands of me.  In addition to my job, softball on Wednesday, and preparations for Greenbush, I have an unusually long list of household chores.  My wife’s sister and brother-in-law will arrive from California on Thursday.  We don’t see them often, so our home needs to make a good impression.  In the week ahead my energies won’t be completely devoted to cycling, but I will do the best that I can.