Since Tour du Rouge 2012, I've...
- started racing at the weekly crit series again, but in the 3/4 race
- joined a proper road team, Ghisallo
- done hundreds, if not a couple thousand, miles with AJ, my old boss from the Peddler
- crashed during the weekly crit series and have yet to return
- won the Peddler Neighborhood Crit by the skin of my teeth (Luke was right on my wheel)
- missed the start of the Fort Hood State Road race by 30 seconds and chased 66 miles solo, in the rain
- left Ghisallo to join Comanche, another road team
- started working for a bicycle product company
- went to the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest
- tried cross country mountain bike racing
- won some cross country mountain bike races
- joined a mountain team
- participated in the 2013 Tour du Rouge
- decided to do the 2014 Dirty Kanza
- decided not to do the 2014 Tour du Rouge
- catted up to cross country Cat 2
- won some Cat 2 races
- decided to do Leadville in 2014
- won a Cycleast/Beat the Clock Urbocross race before being DQed
- had a bad experience during a mtn race because of rain and my glasses fogging up
- got contacts lenses
- catted up to cross country Cat 1
- quit Comanche after not doing a single road race in the 2013 season
- set a goal of riding a century every Saturday for all of the off season
- wondered if Leadville might be too much for next year
- rode 340 miles over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend
I think that brings us about up to date. Every single one of those bullet points should have been a blog entry over the last year and a half. I'm going to work on that. I'm also going to drop the "Velo Tramp" part of my blog title. I like it a lot and all, but it's obviously someone else's handle.
I've got an aluminum Cannondale Scalpel on order. Hopefully, I'll pick it up in the next week or so, and I can get back to my off-road training. I'm very aware of how stiff the competition is going to be next year in the Cat 1 cross country (XC) races, but I'm not feeling too much anxiety yet. I feel confident, strong, and hopeful.
