The Gates are Open

Last night really wanted to focus on strength training since my endurance seems to be coming along well. Decided to see how much of Butterfield I could tackle seated as opposed to keeping the speed up and standing through the interval hills. Much to my dismay it appears that the gate is open and traffic is running up and down Butterfield. Last night wasn’t bad only two cars on the road but I definitely won’t be riding it on a weekend.

The ride went well. I felt really strong and was able to stay seated all the way until the really steep section which is where I had decided at the start to make my turn-around at.

I’ve decided not to do Thanksgiving Point this weekend. With the plans I have I don’t feel justified in spending the extra money in gas, maybe I’ll do Sundance, but realistically I probably won’t race again until Pedalfest. With the focus this year being LOTJA, I find myself struggling to stay motivated to mountain bike race. I’ve pretty much decided to bag nationals this year and I’m hoping to make a trip up to Jackson instead and ride the Yellowstone loop again.

On a different subject there seems to be quite a debate over some race tactics used in the Cat 3 Bear Lake race last weekend. It sounds like one team was trying to disrupt the chase to bring back some riders and it got a little heated. Maybe with more incidents like this cycling can bring some of the NASCAR crowd to cycling. Although I just can’t see Bubba six-pack standing on the side of the road with a cooler cheering on Basso or Ullrich with his gut hanging out of his wife-beater. On second thought, the idea of hearing "Achy Breaky Heart" at the finish line might prompt a few riders to turn around and head the other way.