Working Back into It, and Baptism by Fire

I'm still dealing with that injury from a few weeks ago. The ultrasound came back negative, which left the doctor scratching her head. She went from telling me to stay off the bike to suggesting that I ride some to see exactly what hurts and what doesn't. Hopefully, I won't have all of my inside parts erupt from my stomach in the middle of a race; that would be a real drag.

Now begins the recovery. Two weeks off the bike felt like a long time. I don't feel like my power has been diminished, but my stamina took a pretty big hit. I probably should've immediately started doing some long slow miles to recover, but instead I went and tried the trails at Emma Long Park for the first time. It's very, very technical. There are lots of ledges and drops, and everything in between is rocky and dry. I stopped and had a snack at one point and took this photo of the new bike (with a test saddle that I'm trying out).

The day after that I borrowed a friend's car and went out to Reimers Ranch. There's still a lot of stuff there that gives me a little trouble, but the new bike's given me some extra confidence on the drops. And, I was able to blast through the long, straight section at the back pretty fast, which was fun.

It's tough deciding what to do. All the stamina I built off-season with long, road miles is gone. I want to try and get it back, but it seems like time to switch back to fast trail riding. I guess I'll see where the chips land this weekend...

I registered for the first race of the season today, The Rocky Hill Roundup in Smithville, TX. For some idiotic reason, perhaps pure masochism, I decided to register for the Pro/Cat 1 race rather than just the Cat 1 race.

...

I don't really have much to say about that. I guess I feel like I still race like a really fast Cat 2. They wouldn't have let me race Cat 2 again this year because I won a few races last year. Then, I thought "if I want to be as fast as the pro guys, why not chase them around the course instead of doing the Cat 1 race?" Honestly, I really want to see how they ride. How do they move over things at the speeds they do? The unfortunate truth is I probably won't get to see them much. They'll probably gap me pretty early and I'll be riding by myself most of the race, which means that my biggest worry, that I'll be in someone's way, won't be an issue.

Whatever. I wasn't going to be competitive for a while this season anyway whether I did the Pro race or the Cat 1 race. At least now when I'm dead last, I'll have an excuse, right?