#16: Losing & finding form
Gaining or re-gaining form has always been a struggle for me. I started riding again seriously in 2000 and raced up in the mid-Atlantic (MD, Del, Pa, D.C., etc) a lot in 2001. Starting in 2002, I moved to Chattanooga and began another job that involved about 50% travel. Over the summer of 2002, I watched my fitness evaporate with the schedule of ride 3 weeks, go overseas (sans bike) for 3 weeks…repeat. When I moved to Chattanooga in April of 2002, I was coming off a solid base and managed to ride okay that summer. I lined for a bunch of Cat 4 races but the results were bad compared to what I used to (although the bigger hills/mountains probably also had something to do with it.) Due to this heavy international travel (to Estonia) 2002 and 2003 were shot riding-wise. I think at some point there I almost thought my riding days were done with long (think 3-4 months) with little or no riding.
By 2004, my travel destination had mostly changed to Memphis. This was fortunate since I drove the 300 miles and could take my bike with me. Long hours at work didn’t always allow me to get out as much as I wanted, but at least I rode some.
2005 was sort of an attempt to return to some form, but travel schedule seemed to prevent me from being where I needed to be. Or probably more accurately, I had slipped so far from where I was in early 2002 that I need 2005 to get back somewhere.
The winter of 2005-2006 saw me on temporary assignment in Memphis and therefore *not* traveling. I managed to keep my weight down to 185# max which is much better than my usual 195-200# winter maximum (my fighting weight is around 170#). I started 2006 feeling great and raced a lot of races early with some o.k. results.
Then I moved back to Chattanooga in August 2006 and started to travel again to Estonia (June, August, November, and January). I was around, but in short less-than-month-long stretches that don’t allow coming into form and giving enough time to enjoy it.
So we come to late January 2007. I came back to Memphis from Estonia (I moved to Memphis permanently in December, as well) with no riding of note for 3 months and carrying 195#. So once again starting from nearly zero. I broke out the trainer again and tried to get some good riding in. DST came early, so that helped as well. I decided that just needed to pile the miles on. By late April, I got up to 220 miles or so in a week. Then I went to Estonia/France for two weeks for work and vacation (no bike). I came back with a heavier mileage week (230mile, I think) and then layed off into the Soto stage race.
The race went pretty well, but I didn’t have much reserved and had trouble when the heat got turned up. After the race, I rode though a little funk, but I think I can see that things are turning around. This week, I feel pretty good and am posting up some high mileage numbers for this week (should be ~260+ miles this week of all good miles). Going back to the original idea, where is my form? Not where I would like it be, remembering past lives, but I should be great shape for July / August racing. Or at least I hope so. And I am at 175#, still five to go.
