Where is my competitive spirit?

It's a bit odd to think back over this past summer and not have single memory of racing my bike. It's not really a bad thing, I don't have the memories of countless hours of training, hours of suffering as much as I can to hold a wheel (draft) in races, only to get dropped just on the last little hill of the course. Of course I also don't have the memories of attacking the pack with teammates, doing monster pulls to chase down an escape, or sharing a hotel room with teammates while on the road. It is surprising how close you begin to feel to those that you suffer with for a common goal. My old club ERTC, had a great team spirit. If any of us won we all won, guys would literally ride themselves to nothing just to help another have a shot at being first across the line, and it worked really well. Last year we went from being the 9th place team overall in the Province to being 4th. And almost all of that was due to the dedication to each other and the team. I really do miss that aspect of it the most.

Over the past three summers racing bicycles had become one of the single greatest parts of my life. Not only was (am) I pretty good at it, but I just really liked the whole culture that came with it. Sure there were idiots and guys with way too much attitude. But most of those racing know that this was just for fun, and though they would try to drop you in the race after we were all friends. It was always fun to find out that someone you didn't know knew of you because you were one of the opponents to watch out for.

This year I knew that with the move I wasn't going to be able to get into to have the time and fitness to race most if not any of the road race series. And I was fine with that, I figured that I would be able to race cyclocross, my new passion from the end of the previous season. Well it seems that plan is out the window too. In terms of fitness, I'm strong, possibly as strong (in terms of power to weight) as I have ever been, but my aerobic and anaerobic capacities are sure to be crap, I have barely pushed myself at all this year. On top of that, to be able to race in the category where I belong I have to get the State governing body to approve my credentials from Alberta to tell the National body to give me a higher license...yeah, I'm sure that will be a fast process, after all, it only took the National body 5 days to reply to the e-mail asking the question.

Add to all that the fact that a minor crash a couple of weekends ago bent the handle bar on my cyclocross bike and I'm ready to give up on the whole idea of racing this season. It's probably better this way, there are only a few cyclocross races left and should I do them I would surely rekindle the competitive urge, yet what kind of outlet would I have over the winter? No, it's probably better to sit back and relax a little longer before I hit the gym to start a weight training program for the winter.

Anyway, I can always go watch a race or two if I like. In fact there is one this Sunday afternoon right near downtown. Who knows, maybe the girl would be willing to come out and help me cheer on my teammates?

Oh, though a couple of you have been asking to see a picture of the girl I am leaving it up to her to post one. She has already admitted to being addicted to reading the blog...it's like electronic crack...and she said she will eventually post something on here. As for a photo, only time will tell.