This has been a mild winter in terms of snow fall. The rain hasn't been too bad either but the days with 30-45mph wind gusts have limited some of our outings on the skinny tires, depending on our geographic locations. I know Lancaster has been Chicago windy and Iowa flat for me this winter. The latter part of this is due to relocating the family to eastern Lancaster County and now residing further away from my usual training grounds along the Susquehanna River.
I figured the December-February months would have been used for scouting out new roads to train upon but as I mentioned above, massive gusts have made days on the road bike more than sketchy for my 6'5"-self. Fingers crossed March is milder.
The team kits should be arriving in a week or two so to say that they will be icing on the cake would be an understatement. In the meantime, the guys have been working on the base miles, either indoor or on the mountain bike, shielded in the woods from the winter winds. Some are scrambling to put together the new steed for the season in hopes of using our first race in the dirt, The Marysville Relay, as the ultimate primer for fitness and riding gear.
Enter the Marysville Relay, I'm excited to have a go at it. I've only done mountain bike races as a solo, one event, non-relay type. This event utilizes either a 4 man team or a 2 man team/duo. I figure this is a good time to try my hand at Duo for this season opener. Chris Sherdel, fellow 'cross team racer, will be joining me to form one of the two Duo teams for the relay. We have four hours to crank out as many laps in that four hour period. I feel this will call for some constant shoveling of coals into the fire as my old friend Cinco would say.
Here's Sherdel and his recap of the 2011 cyclo-cross season.
