The Comeback

It's the second day of August, and also the second day of me back on my bike (seriously) since Racing late June.   I rode a couple times but nothing serious.  But now is the time for me to return to cycling and see where my training will take me.  I'm hoping for some great time spent outdoors, followed by some success on the road against fellow cyclists.

I'm targeting Winters RR and the Vacaville GP.  And the following weekend I'm considering making it a weekend by chilling up in Shasta and doing the Ride part of the Tin Man Triathlon.  Bob's mentioned it, and I'm actually considering it.. Maybe it'd be nice to show up to some half serious/half recreational sporting event and give my cycling a try.. Though my TT skills are not the best.  I can work on them! What a concept..

Yesterday was a discouraging day on the bike.  Hot, nasty.. windy, the works.  Plus, I rode like EVERYWHERE and it only amounted up to a pathetic hour of riding.  I shook that off and chilled with some good friends.  Today I manned up and decided to get in a "long" ride.  Went up to Paradise to catch the tail end of the Awakening.  That was awesome.  The ride up to Paradise was legit as the sun was setting, followed by the sound of beautiful music as I entered the sanctuary.  Following the service, I ate awesome pizza and then made my way home.  So, even that ride was not a legit ride.. A HUGE break in the middle!  Hey, maybe I'm working my way up to a "real" ride..

Here's a shot of my favorite road in town, I rode this route to Butte twice a week for a whole semester.  I'm going to miss these rolling hills.. 

And here's my view of the valley as I ascended Clark Rd. into Paradise

But nonetheless my legs were shot and the funny thing was, despite me being "prepared", my light was not very charged and was already on red.  I used it only when cars were coming/going and it STILL died on me with 10 miles to go.  I did enjoy on the other hand some very nice night skies, including some amazing constellations overhead.  The light colored grass contrasted to the darkness that I was following made my night ride interesting.. Nothing different than any other night ride, but not often do I do night rides.  They are sketchy, and only in the summer is it warm enough (cool enough in the evening) to make it perfect riding temperatures.  I even saw a shooting star!  The whole works, the start, the tail as it glows and burns out.. SO awesome.

My gameplan?  I plan to ride a LOT.  Like.. every day, or every other day.  And these days would be hours or so to make my training worth while.. I'll balance it with life in general.  Yard work, girlfriend, friends, family, car, etc. But focusing on riding.   That's my goal, of course easier said than done.

Also, I plan to blog a lot so that way I can keep track of this month and also give my homies something cool to read if they're interested.