2009 Begins

While some of the elite few travel to exotic places to train during the off season, getting pampered and living under extremely controlled environments, the rest of us make do with what we have. For me, that means training whenever I can, early morning, late at night, lunch hour, in the cold, the dark, wet and sometimes freezing (actually I prefer frozen to wet, it's not as cold). I do the best I can do with what I have to work with.
The elite do it because it's their job, I do it because I love to race and I love the feeling of being fit.
My "off season" is over, my first race of 2009 is Saturday at the first round of the Knoxiecross Cyclocross series in Knoxville. Round 2 is on Sunday then rounds 3 and 4 are in February. I will miss the last two rounds at the end of February because I am going to Florida for the 12 Hours of Santos. Then in March, there is a couple of road races that I will be doing leading up to the start of the "racing" part of my year and the 6 Hours of Warrior Creek and the Cohutta 100, both in April.
These races this winter are all training races and very little priority is given to them. I will be trying some new stuff out and different strategies, especially at Santos and basically trying to get fit for the important races this summer.