Another race season ends

Well, my 2012 race season has come to an end and overall it was fairly successful, but hit and miss at the same time.

My road race season sucked big time with one crash, two DNF's and my best placing on the season 17th overall in a one day race. No top 10's or 5's...just an average season. The crash back in April screwed things up a little since I lost my Tsunami which fit really well and I was faster on. My Cannondale has been a good replacement and overall I like it a lot, but the front end has never felt quite the same as on my Tsunami since I can't get as low on the Cannondale.

My TT season however, turned out to be really good. I had 4 wins on the season, two state titles and only placed lower than 2nd in one race all season.

Going into the year I had two main goals: 1) win the TTT and 2) run sub 53:30 at the ITT championships. I was 1 for 2 in my goals with the help of some great teammates we won the TTT, but I ran a slower time than I wanted at the State Championship ITT's, partially due to a very windy day, partially due to not having my new TT bike dialed in and partially due to the front wheel rubbing on the brake for at least 5 miles of the race.

I did have my unexpected win in the Uphill ITT championships and won the inaugural TT Cup for the Masters 40+ division...So two good and unexpected wins on the season and my first solo state championship.

I was able to hit my weight goals, my power goals (with altitude adjustment I had a new 30 minute power PR at the Uphill ITT Championships with an average of 387 watts for 30 minutes) and overall feel good this season. I've taken a couple days off the bike since my last race and am going to work hard not to put weight on this winter...it's fairly normal for me to put on 30 pounds, which makes the start of the season always a pain in the butt since I have to drop the weight for the season. My goal is to not go over 200 pounds this winter and be around 195 for the first race of the season, and maybe get down to 185 for most of the season...it can be done but won't be easy.

My best placings on the year look like this for the season:

1st place finishes:

• OBRA Hill Climb Championships
• OBRA TTT Championships
• PIR TT #2
• As the Raven Flies #2

2nd place finishes:

• OBRA ITT Championhships
• PIR #1
• As the Raven Flies #1

As you can see, there are no road race placings in there...it just wasn't a good year on the road bike. Hopefully, I'll be better prepared for the road races next season and have as good or better year on the TT bike.

For now, back to base miles, get the trainer ready for lack of sunlight, start pulling out the rain gear for the winter and get my winter bike ready for some miles over the next 5 months or so.