Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The end is near....

I really can't believe it is already July 24th, time is really flying and I want it to slow down. Usually around this time I am looking forward to a break from the bike and racing but this year I want more. I already had a nice break from racing mid season and now I only have two more races left on my schedule.
This weekend is the US Pro crit nationals in Grand Rapids Michigan. It is going to be the top US pro crit riders battling for the stars and stripes jersey at the finish. We have a very strong team going for Team Exergy, Quinn Keough, Conor Mullervy, Zac Davies, Logan Loader and myself. Look for updates from the race on my twitter, I am expecting big things.
Getting the positioned dialed on the TT bike
After nationals we head over to Chicago for the Tour of Elk Grove starting the following Friday. It opens up with a prolouge followed by two hard circuit/crit races. There is going to be big teams there with there big guns. This will be my last race of the year so I have nothig to hold back or save for the following weekend.
Tom Coleman getting Conors TT bike dialed for Tour of Elk Grove

New Bonts getting molded by Foot Dynamics Boise
I am very happy with my season so far but just can't believe how fast it has gone.
After a motor pacing session
Thanks for reading
Ginger 1

Monday, July 2, 2012

Train HARD, REST even HARDER

Well I have been back in Boulder now for close to a month after a hard two months of racing every week. I love racing my bike and helping my teammates win bike races but you come to a point in the season where you need to hit the reset button. I had the opportunity to continue racing for another two weeks before my break but I had to turn it down. You will rarely see me turn down a bike race but I knew my body and my mind was screaming at me to take a deep breath.
Good riding with friends


Your body is a lot like a car, you need to keep fuel in it to keep moving forward. But if you leave the car running for a long period of time it will die. That is just like racing every week without a break. Your will run out of gas and you will need to re-jump your battery because it died. My body needed the same thing, my engine was just cooked and needed a jump. So I knew I needed to come home rest for a bit recharge the battery and train hard for the second part of the season. It is very important in this sport to really know your body and listen to it when it throws a red flag.
A mid season break is nice it is both physically and mentally important. Coming back home it is very relaxing knowing you will be sleeping in your own bed for more then a few nights before you head to the next race. You don't have to stress about being somewhere at a certain time you can cook your own meals and get back on a correct diet. Living on the road out of a suitcase is sometimes hard to keep a constant diet. You get to hang out with family and friends and just relax and take your mind off of racing for just a bit. After a break you will come back to racing fresh and be ready to compete at your highest level.
Speed work behind the scooter
I am ready to leave for Canada in just a couple of days for the Tour of Delta. I am super excited to go back to this race and see the improvement from last year. There is an Extra motivation this year to go with good legs because my teammate Ben Chaddock just won Canadian crit nationals and is the National crit champion. He will be wearing the national jersey proudly in front of a home crowd and I hope I can help him win a race or two in that jersey while we are over there.

Ben making it look easy!


Bens new jersey!



Thanks for reading 
Ginger 1