The seventeen months of 2016

In August of 2015 I was pulled into a critical project that was six months behind schedule with a targeted completion of September 2016. I spent the rest of 2015 working critical path issues tied to 2016 dates.  I became so focused on 2016 that it felt odd to write 2015. 

 Cold rides in early 2016....

When the calendar actually turned to 2016 I was engaged in building up my training focusing on two key dates.  The first was our east coast trip for Zach’s graduation and visiting family and the second was our Dolomite trip.  I had objectives to have accumulate a certain number of kilometers of riding before each.

After the Dolomites trip I kept riding bigly knowing I had the Winthrop Fondo looming on the horizon.  That Fondo and Cyclocross kept me doing intervals through the end of the summer. Football started, baseball ended and still I rode on. Check the schedule and follow the plan.

 Fondo till you die!

The traditional road racing season starts with the spring classics in March and ends when the leaves start to fall.  This results in a few months of buildup and five months of events. Cyclocross racers tend to start later and race into December. Because of the trips my training start lined up with road racers so I began logging miles in December of 2015 and extended all the way into November of this year.  The longer than usual training combined with my professional 2016 starting a few months early made this year feel super long.

The Woodland Park cross race has historically marked the end of my season and that was true again this year.  That’s all I’m going to say about that.  The point is, I’m done for 2016 and it feels like 2016 has already been sixteen months long.

After so many months of purposeful training the freedom to follow my whims is a treat.  I don’t want to imply that all my rides have been hard, or were less than fun but they were all part of a plan.  Plans have a purpose and fun along the way isn’t the plan. After a while you start to feel like a slave to the plan and crave freedom.

I’ve ridden over eight thousand kilometers since January 1^st but I am not concerned with what my annual total will be.  I also have well over a hundred thousand meters of climbing but there is no need to get into the details even if they are awesome. The work is done and this is the time to relax and refresh.