Ill-Timed

On Wednesday I could feel a cold coming on so I skipped my trainer workout.  Yesterday and earlier today I suffered from nasal congestion, a scratchy throat, dull body aches and a general malaise.  This evening I’m starting to feel better, but the timing of this setback was terrible.  I’m definitely not going to race in the state cyclocross championships on Sunday.  Since my last race on Nov. 5, I’ve ridden only 32 miles outdoors and only twice on the indoor trainer.  By Sunday I may have few remaining cold symptoms, but I wouldn’t be fit enough to race well and I believe I would risk a relapse into sickness, perhaps of longer duration and greater severity.

Racing in the state championships would have been a fitting end to my cycling season, regardless of the outcome, if I had been healthy.  As things stand, I feel like there’s unfinished business.  Is that silly?  I went into the cyclocross season with no expectation of doing so many races or of competing this late in the year.  Now I’m looking at Wizard Cross in Madison on Dec. 4 and I’m thinking, Maybe if the weather isn’t too bad …

I’m also thinking about the 2012 edition of Cheesehead Roubaix.  Today I mapped out the first of many possibilities for the route, using Lakeland School in the Town of Saukville as the start/finish.  We nearly ran out of parking this year at Goeden County Park, so for 2012 the start/finish likely will change even if most of the route stays the same.  The unpaved roads are the attraction, and there are only so many ways to connect them in a sensible route that doesn’t double back onto itself.  Don’t expect a final route announcement for a couple of months at least.  I have more possibilities to explore.