Cyclo Cross!!!

I'm happy for those people who like to do cyclocross that there are multiple opportunities around here to enjoy it on as high a level as one wants, with great regularity.

On the other hand, there are people who enjoy riding their road bikes on gravel beds even less than I do. It's good to know that because I thought this was just another thing, like cross, that the cool kids were all really into but that I just didn't get, and which wasn't a flavor of Kool-Aid that I was inclined to drink.

One of my better crashes of the year took place at 0 mph. Sweet. I laughed really hard at precisely the wrong moment while getting onto my bike and the next thing you know I'm turtle backing with my bike upside down above me. The only thing better would have been if my bottles had been open and draining onto me.

Organizing a race takes a long time. We have our first official meeting (last year there were no official meetings, as it was a committee of one) for next year's race next week. Despite a bunch of background work having gone on between race day and now, it doesn't feel like we're ahead of schedule. Fortunately, my responsibilities vis a vis next year's race are considerably streamlined and focused on the things that I can do most easily, and that I most enjoy.

There are a number of things I'm psyched about for next year. Having taken off my race promoter's hat, and almost all of the other various hats I've worn over the past couple of years (there have been a lot of them), I'm looking forward to being less concerned about externalities next year.

I've also got a new team mate, who is making progress in leaps and bounds and is in some respects more psyched about next season than I am. Remember when almost every ride had an "-est" on the end of it? Fastest, longest, hilliest, hardest, best?

Cycling finally seems like it's been pared down to the critical things. There's one somewhat-but-not-really-external focus (see "new team mate" above), but that comes with a positive stimulus multiplier. A lot of stuff that I've done has, at times, seemed like throwing effort into a black hole, sowing far more than was ever to be reaped. This particular involvement produces more than I put in. Psyched. I don't want to be that cloying, patronizing, unjustifiably "proud" douche, either.

I've never struggled too badly with staying focused during the off season, but the data set on this is thin. Two years ago was the first one and you can do anything once, right? Last year doesn't really count as an off season since there kind of was no season. This time around will be a bigger challenge. My goals are higher, and with fewer external subjectives to cloud things up, success or failure will be in starker contrast. It's off to an okay start.

Is getting increasingly cryptic a symptom of aging? Early stage memory loss, too.