Getting back on the bike

Last year I was coming off my L4/L5 back injury and was itching to put in hard rides and get my fitness back. This year it's a completely different story.

I hit my goals and have pretty much sat on my butt enjoying some time over the past month doing stuff around the house. It's amazing how much you can get done when you're not racing. I did do one great ride that was new to me during this time. We spent a weekend down in Cambria for a wedding. Upon the recommendation of a teammate I decided to ride up Santa Rosa Creek Drive and explore the canyon. Nice little road until you hit the 'wall'. Yes, the road literally jacks up from a nice meandering ride and points skyward. Boy, that was a gut check. Those extra pounds on me reared their ugly head.

Looking forward I'm pretty excited about next season. I've taken delivery of a TT bike and I'm hoping to focus on TT events in 2009. Between the SJBC Winter Series, Beat the Clock and those events on the NCNCA calendar I'm hoping to spend quite a bit of time doing these.

I'm also tossing the idea around of getting a coach. This is a hard call for me to make. I do enough research to arm myself with information to be a pretty well-informed self-coached athlete. But on the other hand, I'm sure working with a coach would help me. It will be interesting to note which voice in my head wins. In the meantime I'll be easing back into the bike and taking it easy during the Winter Series.