Two Days Until Barry-Roubaix!!!

Barry-Roubaix is two days away!! But, New Years Day seems like it was just a couple of weeks ago. It was then that I dedicated myself to being in shape by the end of March. I'll take my normal training break after the last cross race of the year and start back up in earnest with some great rides to usher in the new year. I'll do an abbreviated base and start hitting heart rate levels that no self respecting push bike racer should be doing before Groundhog Day. Then, that whole 42" of snow in two days thing happened and I was resigned to the basement aka the motivation sucker-outer.

You can't ride hard in the basement. Maybe I'll start the intervals by Valentines day. The roads will certainly be free of snow and ice by then, so I could least get outside and get some hard rides in. Then the second blizzard hit and another 27" in a 24 hour period. Stupid lake effect snow. I still have six weeks left. Plenty of time.

Fat Tuesday and all of the Pazcki's (a heavy filled donut) slowed me down a bit in the beginning of March. St Patrick's Day was on a Thursday and that certainly put a dent into that weekend's rides. Well, once the time changes I'll have plenty of time to ride with the increased daylight. The time change is when? Crap. Nobody is fast in March are they? Well there was that one guy who passed me in the sandy two track on his road bike and slicks last year. Hopefully he's not racing this year. Even more people are racing this year? Crap.

Where's my bike rack? My go fast tires? My warm, but not too warm hat for a sub-30 degree start? It's going to be how cold? Toe warmers! I'm out of toe warmers! Maybe the ski store will have some. Score! Fortunately, I've had plenty of time to work on my excuses. I'm ready to go.

Barry-Roubaix "The Killer Gravel Road Race", in its third year is already a special race. One to be highlighted on the race calendar. The buzzing of 1500 tires on the rollout, followed by the wind-up of the lead moto's engines signaling that the hammer was going down, has not faded after a year. Electrifying.

So was the vibe of the whole race. Smooth registration, well run operations, great door prizes (even-though they keep forgetting to draw my name), great beer, helpful volunteers (be sure to be nice, say thanks) quick results, and great friends to be made.

Rick and Cathy know how to put on a race. A hard race, with way too much climbing before April than should be allowed. When you're done though, you start making plans, or in my case excuses, before you even get on the highway to head back home. See you there. Do you have any embro I could use? I'm out. Hup!

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