I've been remiss. I joined Facebook and stopped posting race recaps here. But I have been racing quite a lot.

This is the time of year that I get a bit burned out. It's not so bad this year, but I'm still feeling it. I'm looking forward to cyclocross season and planning to race at the track a couple more times and do the team time trial. But right now, I want to relax a bit, see a movie, hang out with Jackie, shop. And - dare I dream - sleep in.


So . . . I took second place in a cat 4 tempo race at the track last week! It's my best placing at the track -- and sadly, my best placing all year so far. In a tempo race, points are awarded to the first two people to cross the start/finish line every lap - two points for the first to cross and one point to the second. So its a super hard race - one that never lets up. It being just the cat 4 women was great - without the 1-2-3 women, I'm one of the stronger racers [with them, I just try to hang on].

Track is a great interval workout for me - it increases my fitness drastically. And it helps with my abysmal pack skills - or I hope it will, I feel a bit like the bull in the china shop in a fast track race. I need to be able to control my track bike better.

This past Sunday was the first cyclocross race of the season. The brilliant brainchild of one of my teammates, it was a tag-team relay 'cross race. Everyone raced in teams of two, trading off laps. I raced the women's open and the co-ed races. Natalie, my partner in the women's race, was a hero - she sprinted the 100 yards to the transition station AND rode the first lap. I really enjoyed the race, the skills - such as I have them - came right back. I'm not as powerful as I want to be [am I ever?], but I managed to catch and pass a couple women. Nat and I finished a respectable fifth.

It was 96 degrees by the time the co-ed race started. This was a short race, three laps each. My partner, Paolo, established us solidly in the first half of the race and I did my best to improve our placing. We finished 18th of 49.

I was really blown away by how strong and fast a lot of the women have gotten. I'll need to up my game significantly to compete. I'm weary of being pack fodder! Time to break some legs.