Mid-season musings

   Last weekend's race at Northstar went well--for once, I didn't really have an excuse to do horribly, so I won instead. The course was super easy with lots of pedaling; almost a relaxing experience aside from cranking till your legs explode! I probably could have pedaled more and gone faster, but with the way my season has been so far, I'll take what I can get.

A good shot from last weekend by Chris Demere

   At this point, it's getting dangerously close to the end of another bike season, and I'm already thinking ahead to next year and what to do differently. Case in point: Northstar. While I credit the place for getting me a good start in riding DH, it's feeling smaller and smaller every time I ride there. And with 8 races in the series, being there almost every weekend is starting to get old. I love to ride my bike and don't usually mind where, but growing up racing in Washington spoiled me in getting to travel around the state for races, experiencing a wide variety of venues. So with that in mind, I'm tentatively thinking about a pass to Mammoth next year instead of the 'star again, and definitely focusing on fewer races with more importance, like the Pro GRT series and/or Grand Prix, whichever I can make it to most easily. That would give me more time to train, ride for fun in other cool places, kick back on the beach, and even do some overnight backcountry rock climbs like I used to in the good old days...
   Despite its drawbacks, it has still been a good season to stay local and save money; I've been so far unsuccessful at ridding myself of the same tenacious sinus infection that's persisted for months through several courses of antibiotics, a candida cleanse, and lots of sleep. Next stop is the dentist, who may perhaps find a tooth infection (apparently a common cause of mysterious sickness). Yuck. I HATE going to the dentist, and haven't been to one in several years, go figure. If that clears things up, great, but i'll sure feel like an idiot for not going in sooner!
   More racing this weekend: Live Wire and Dogbone back to back, we'll see if I can defend my victory from last year on Live Wire, and redeem myself from a terrible race at Dogbone when my fork quit working so well.