Big Changes To My 2018 Plans

I knew coming into 2018 that I wouldn’t be doing as much mountain bike racing as I did in 2017. Today my plans were further simplified by the release of a revised WEMS schedule. The first draft of the WEMS schedule suggested not one, but two races at Silver Lake Park in Kenosha County, and I was enthusiastic about the prospect. Then it became clear that the second race was a Copy & Paste error from the 2017 schedule, and as of today there is no race at Silver Lake Park. That’s disappointing, as I really enjoyed riding and racing on those trails last year.

But there’s good news too: the Stump Farm 100 has moved from May 19 to September 29. That probably means warmer, drier weather, and it definitely means I will be far more fit! The way things are going, I can’t imagine being in race shape by May 19. And September 29 should be an open date on the WCA cyclocross calendar, as that weekend is reserved for Jingle Cross, a popular event in Iowa that siphons off a big percentage of Wisconsin’s racers. Jingle Cross isn’t in my plans, so knocking out an endurance mountain bike race at the end of September will be a great way to keep my training volume high.

While I was rearranging my events calendar today I decided to remove the short track race at the WORS Cup on July 8. It just didn’t make sense, especially since I have no other WORS events on my schedule. If that race were in August, then it might be attractive as a fitness test heading into the cyclocross season. But as it stands, it doesn’t serve any larger goal.

So, all of those changes mean I’m not planning to race until August! And that’s OK. It’s still winter here, after all. Don’t believe me? Look at next week’s forecast:

Welcome, April?