Oh the joys of being back at it. It's tough waiting all year for the cross season to begin. No doubt I have a lot of fun when I'm not racing my bike, but it's definitely hard to sit on the sidelines when most are out there turning themselves inside and out during the road and mountain bike campaigns. But for whatever reason, I've morphed into the fall cyclocross racer, so I guess I'm going with it for now. The first race is always a shock to the system and the speed with which everyone seems to go is frightening. But I'll tell you what, getting a chance to fling it out there after all the lonely base miles is a heck of a change of scenery and one that I am all too pleased to embrace. You know when it's time to start racing when:

-You have every shard of glass memorized on any of your biking routes;
-You pretty much know who you're going to see and when depending on the time of day you are riding and what direction you are headed;
-You are on a first name basis with some of the homeless people that live down by the canal because you pass by them on the way to work, during your lunchtime ride, and on the way home from work;
-You respond with a "I don't know...I haven't looked at the data from my watt computer yet" when somebody asks you how your ride went;
-You can tell the flavor of gel pack just by feel when pulling it out from the back of your jersey;
-Your wife starts demanding that you start racing because she can't take the constant "I wonder if my training plan is on target" moaning.

Anyway, headed for McLaren this weekend to light up the sensations for a second week in a row. Glad the racing season is here. Hope you are well.

Johnny GoFast
Above photo courtesy of Rick Rasmussen Shot at CCCX #2