Looking forward to the 2013 season!

Photo by the lovely Liz Schlaudecker

Maybe a more toned-down year — focusing on the bigger picture and lifelong goals. Last year I introduced a lot of diversity (some time-trialing, a Xterra), this year I might go back to more dirt, i.e., mountain biking.

Training Trips and Races I wanna do:
Short Denver NAHBS training camp in February — see friends and fam, drink some good beer and begin a ramp up after recovery from Da Worldz.
Death March and Brown County — I want to race as a co-ed team with Bjet, as a "team-building" exercise. Maybe stay out there a few days and get in some training rides with our Hoosier Buddies!
Murphin Ridge Inn and Shawnee Forest — maybe a training weekend East of the 'Nati?
Ashville/Knobscourcher Race/Long training Weekend — Bjet wants to work on a Pro MTB license. Maybe do this trip and check out the awesome stuff in that area.
Quad-Century? — Never rode TOSRV, should I go for riding to Cbus, then Portsmouth, then Cbus and back in four days? Also, my teammate Gersy and I might ride "Century of the Month," hoping to get in one 100 mile ride every month!
Mohican — Going for the 100 miler for a third time. I want to be Bjet's domestique. Gotta talk her into the 100 miler!
Big Dave's 6 Hour Series — I want to focus on this series, I hope for some podiums (We'll see if some badasses come up and woop me).
MTB trips with Charley and Sherri — my friends have been going to some epic races. Probably not this year, hopefully next year!
Madiera/Hyde Park Crits — I loved these last year, like CX races on asphalt! Lots of corners!
Versailles — I want to set a new PR in the XC race, aim to drop below 2:10:00
Tour of Colorado — Fun rides out there again!
John Bryan 6 Hour — Compete as a co-ed duo with Bjet or go solo and try to defend my title?
CincyCX — This year I am going to focus on the 4-5 local races and have fun. One last shot at the Elite field in the Cincy3 races, gotta stay "fast" or get faster for those. Last couple of years I raced 21 CX races, maybe this year just do my favorite courses including more trips to see my old friends in CapCity.

Other goals:
Even more soul — I usually do a good job of balancing my "joie de vivre" for cycling with training "hard." I typically train like a Merckx-wannabe and ride loads of miles. Last year I would get upset and crabby if I felt like my volume or intensity was being compromised by others/life. Other days I would get 2-4 workouts in, training that way 5-6 days a week. Was I recovering enough? Were my workouts specific enough? This year I just want to take training in stride. Commute for health. Perhaps do 4 specific targeted training rides per week. Have fun, train smarter not harder.
There are other things in life — make sure I reconnect with my non-cycling friends. I've lost track now that we are all married and having kids. Love'm, need to see more of them. I always hate being one-dimensional and all about cycling, even though I love it and it is very rewarding. But this year I want to put a bit more into my art, and work on fixing up my house too!
Get slightly skinnier — just want to nudge below 10% body fat (for overall heart health) and keep weight about 140lbs. Some of this entails being very mindful of my diet. I keep trying to tweek and "perfect" a diet that is healthy, mindful and sustainable. Sometimes that is very hard and stressful and it is hard to discern what is based in science versus based in a diet trend.
Be All-Over Fit — My core and upper body are my weaknesses. I need to keep working on being a strong person to maintain my health. I keep seeing people my own age or older that are very sedentary and pretty weak — I just worry that someday a minor fall could jeopardize my health. I want to remain fighting fit when I am old.

In the 2011-12 season I raced 47 races, and last year I raced 44. I still have passion and want to keep pushing, but my house and my wallet say I should focus on my home! Hopefully this year I will find balance!

I am saying no to running races this year. I would have to start training for the Heart Mini and the Flying Pig now. I want a break after Worlds. I hope to return to running races with next winters Topo Adventure Sports winter trail series.

What are you guys gonna do this year?

Roadrash's 2012 Racing Schedule leaked to VeloNews

Okay, no one at VeloNews cares what I am planning... But I can't wait to see you peeps out there!

In 2012 I plan to focus a bit more on quality, not quantity. There were so many weekends where I feel I didn't get to ride because my Saturday ride was short so I wouldn't kill my legs for the Sunday race. So I've decided not to focus on racing and placing in the CORA series this year.

Running Races:
TOPO Caesar Creek Trail Run
Heart Mini Half Marathon
Flying Pig Full Marathon

Cycling Epics:
Sub 9 Death March
Barry-Roubaix
Mohican 100 miler
12 Hours of Capitol View
6 Hours of John Bryan
(No DINO this year, helping out with CX)
Frankenbike 50

Crits:
1-2 Ault Worlds
Madiera Centennial Crit
The Blast?
1-2 Mainstraße Crits
(killer CX prep)

MTB:
East Fork
England-Idlewild
Versailles
(Good power courses, great CX prep)

TT's:
I am going to cut back on these this year, spending an evening in gridlock traffic just to race for 30-60 minutes sucks when you do it every week.

CX:
I got my big boy's license this year. Hopefully I stay healthy and get stronger.
USGP Wisconsin
USGP Boulder? (We have fam out there, that would be awesome)
Cincy3
USGP Derby City
Focusing on the local Cincy OVCX races, upgrading to Cat 1/2 Open again.

I want to get Bjet ready for Nationals next year!

I am hoping this schedule is a bit more chill, I did 46 races last year including the week night TTs. Like I said, a lot of time in cars and "saving my legs" kind of took some of the fun out of cycling.

The Road to Worlds is Paved with Suffering!

Since Old Man Worlds is just down the road I decided to keep training and also go to Nats and check out all the insanity. Originally I was planning to take a month off and rest up, but these big races are just too close not to jump into to.

We are fortunate enough to have plenty of races to keep us fit leading into these Championships:
12/11 CapCity Finale: I had to miss it, the Missus is sick of driving everywhere. I really wanted to attend, CapCity is my second home!
12/17-18: Indy Cup Series: In Indy, not too far away.
12/31-1/1: Chicago Cup OR
12/31 New Year's Eve King's Race? There was one last year.
1/1 Devou: I'm planning to put on a fun race to benefit the Devou Cyclocross Park. It will make for great training for Worlds!
1/7 NATIONALS!
1/13-15: WORLDS!

I think I'm going to keep my marriage intact and not tick off Bjet too much and skip the Indy Cup races too. I am going to Nats, it will be great to check out the pageantry and watch the Elite Women and Men battle for the crown. Worlds will be fun, seeing all my friends for one last race. Plus Madison and Louisville are super cool cities with plenty of fun things to do.

Instead of racing I'm planning to keep it local, and race against myself doing time trials and power tests. This will allow for more riding time, less travel. I'm going to keep it chill and not race for once!

2011 Season Preview

I was planning on scaling back this year but racing is so fun I am having difficulty settling on only a handful of races. I wanted to scale back to mainly local races to save money for Bjet and my future house, car and travel expenses. Plus I heard this will be another crazy year for gas prices. Either way, I gotta get rid of the little belly I got after Christmas, check out that pic above, I look like a I just ate a suckling pig.

Running (for early season fitness and a change of pace)
– Heart Mini NEW 1/2 Marathon option, my first half
– May be interested in joining a relay team for 1 leg of the Flying Pig.

Time Trials (usually pretty cheap to enter and a great way to track your fitness):
– Harbin Park Winter MTB TTs
– Cleves TTs
– Harbin Park Summer MTB TTs
– Kings CX TTs

One Day Classics, i.e., Endurance Races:
– Sub-9 Death March with teammate Nate (for fun)
– Mohican 100 miler (while I am still stupid enough to ride 100 miles and spend 10 hours on a bike)
– 6 Hours of John Bryan
– 6 or 12 Hours of DINO
– Frankenbike 50
– Gravel Grovel

Mountain Bike Series:
– This summer I plan to focus on either the CORA or the OMBC series. It will depend upon my schedule, what Bjet wants to do and gas prices! That would be about 4-6 cross country races ranging from 25-30 miles a race.

Cyclocross:
– Focus on 8-10 OVCX races
– I may race the UCI3 and GPs (as Elite) based upon my license issues (still a 3, can I buy the UCI license or am I a fool?) and Bridget's sponsorship requirements. I like the idea of using these races as something to keep in the back of my mind whenever I throw a hurtin' on myself all year long. Don't want to make an ass out of myself. Although not doing them would save money for next year.



If I won the Lottery, Future Dream Race Seasons would include:
– Focus on the National Ultra Endurance series, doing Cohutta, Mohican, Lumberjack, Breckenride and High Cascades, using the race series to visit friends and family
– Focus on the USGP Cyclocross race series, traveling the country with the races visiting family
– Cat 1 UCI CX races in France and Belgium on a vacation
– Iceman Cometh
– TransAlp Mountain Bike Stage Race, probably a bit safer than the South American options
– Beaing a Lead Man, doing Leadville mtb and running races
– Tour de Burg MTB stage race
– The Boone Binge stage race
– German Cyclocross Stage Race?
– Or touring Rhine river along German biking paths
– Doing a Ironman Triathalon (might be an interesting change some day)

Palmères, s’il vous plaît?

Here is a rough overview of the my race schedule :

Ohio Spring Race Series, Deer Creek Road Race: crashed, didn't finish last
CORA,: Tower Park: Flatted out of Beginner race
Flying Pig: wore my kit and smiled like a madman
Dirt, Sweat and Gears, 2 person co-ed 12 hour MTB: 1 lap in 2:04, lap 2 DNF due to mud
Ault Park Crit Series
Hyde Park Blast Crit
OMBC, 3 races
CORA, 4 more races
OVCX, about 15 races
CapCity CX: about 4 additional races

Hopefully I can get some results and be in some race-like situations this year!