Fitness

After my strong build-up earlier this year, I was highly confident in a lot of my rides and races. Then the mid-year funk set-in, my confident waned, and my desire to ride and race seemed to evaporate overnight. I literally walked away from the bikes for a week and never gave them another thought. During that period, I also formulated a plan to take more time off the bike, focus on doing fewer races, and set some late season goals.

I'm now one month into my second half fitness and planning for upcoming events. Today is the "one month to go" date for the Hermann Cross Invitational and as I assess where I am at in preparation for the start of cross season, I'd say I'm right where I want to be. My legs and lungs are responding nicely and mentally, I'm starting to get into racing mode. Ah, racing mode. That 'mode' was a primary contributor to some of my mid-season malaise. So, I'm working on channeling my energy and truly racing when I need to race, not when I want to race. I guess I suffered from a little bit of the porch dog syndrome. You know, laying calmly on the front porch until a vehicle rolls by and then it's GO TIME!

As I train, I'm training my body and mind. Fitness will come in terms of how my body responds to efforts physically AND mentally. Responding to race choices and responding within races. I'm chasing fewer race choices and I'm responding to more strategic opportunities within races. I can't race every race and I'll only race within the race when it strategically suits my game plan. Most of you know this about bike racing already. I didn't. I tend to learn best by experience. In bike racing, experience is a dangerous and painful teacher.

So how's it going? Fitness is on track. During our last team ride, we were approaching the last 2 miles of the ride and there's always a sprint finish on this particular route. As I was riding front wheel in our group of 4, I was fighting back every urge to put the hammer down and push the guys to their redlines. However, Kent Jones was in our group and he's got some serious fire power. So instead of riding harder for the last 5 or so miles (which is what usually happens), I kept the pace down. Actually, I was testing myself. I was strategically riding easy and waiting for someone else to tire of the pedestrian pace and start the sprint. To my delight, I hear Kent say, "watch it, this is where Boz likes to attack." My plan was perfect. I had no intentions of attacking. I had every intention of ambushing. I continued to spin and they took the bait hook, line, and sinker. First attack, I didn't respond by staying at the front. I actually sat in the back. Only until I got on top of my gears and let the others attack did I proceed. When I was second wheel again, I attacked and succeeded. My patience actually paid off and as a result, my fitness grows.