Time for 2013

Here we are at the end of 2012 but I won’t be doing a wistful retrospective of my cycling year. Not to say I don’t enjoy reading the yearly overviews on other blogs, but this past year’s cycling has been pretty…normal. No serious injuries, only a few equipment issues, and generally run-of-the-mill race results. (For example, remember when I got 36^th at the DINO Brown County race? Wow, good times….)

But with 2012 about to become a distant  memory, it is time to look ahead and see what kind of trouble I can get into in 2013. Presently, my cycling calendar is as follows (maybe events in italics):

1.       Jan 5: Polar Bear Pedal (non race)

2.       March 9: Sub 9 Death March

3.       March 23: Barry Roubaix

4.       April 28: DINO Tune Up Town Run

5.       June 3: DINO Brown County

6.       June 16: DINO French Lick

7.       July 1: DINO Mustcatatuck

8.       July 7: Rangeline Rampage

9.       July 22: DINO Versailles

10.   August 12: DINO France Park

11.   August 26: DINO Southwestway Park

12.   September 8: 24 Hours of DINO (6 hour solo)

13.   Brown County Breakdown (non race)

14.   Sub 9 Gravel Grovel

The thing about this year is that I’ve actually assembled a formal training plan. My sister got me a copy of The Mountain Biker’s Training Bible by Joe Friel for Christmas and it has proven to be an interesting read. Admittedly, I’ve actually had a fun time developing the plan. However, the most difficult part has been to try to compensate for my work schedule. Often during the week my only time on the bike is my morning and evening commute which can be 4, 7, or 9 miles each way depending on the route I take. My only trail time will likely be on the weekends. To compensate for this I plan to get trail and endurance workouts on the weekends while focusing on intervals and hill repeats during the week, both of which can be done along my route to and from work, or after I get home in the evenings at several locations within a 5 minute ride of my house. The plan itself starts on January 1 with prep and base workouts and then I will gear up for the Barry-Roubaix in March.

The Barry Roubaix is what I am considering the start of the season. I’m operating under no delusions of grandeur, but I’m still hoping to make a good showing for myself (maybe top 50%?). The Death March race is a maybe. In looking at the map for this year the number of checkpoints has been increased dramatically and it could provide a good warm up for the BR. Still, I’ll be on the fence for a few weeks. The core of the season is the DINO races. I decided to race Category 3 again this year. While I had a few top five finishes in my age group last year, and one podium, I feel I need to try for some more consistent success at Cat 3 before trying Cat 2.

I’m skipping the first DINO race at Warsaw, not because I don’t like the course for recreational riding, but because it’s a longer drive and I didn’t like racing the course last year. I like Versailles State Park more, and since I skipped VSP last year, I figured I would make an effort to go to VSP (and also French Lick which I skipped last year).

One of the “maybe” events is the DINO Rangeline Rampage, a time trial at Rangeline Park in Anderson, Indiana. It is a very technical trail system with a heavy emphasis on man-made features. I have ridden it in the past, but have never ridden ALL the expert trails, which will be used for the TT. I figured the full suspension 26 inch bike I am building (another post) might be good for this type of racing.

The 24 Hours of DINO is also a maybe, although I suspect it will be a priority as September draws closer. I wasn’t happy with my performance last year and feel that I have some unfinished business with that race.

I imagine additional races may pop up. There are typically some time trial events as well as special mtb races put on by DRT Racing and Planet Adventure. Those will be tossed in as I have time. The lack of events in May is unfortunate, but this will be some solid build time with some recreational/training trips around the state.

Outside of the racing, I would also like to travel out of state to ride more often. I hit Vermont this summer and did some riding there but have generally been anchored to Indiana. I’d like to check out trails in Michigan and Ohio if possible.

Beyond cycling I would like to do more camping and paddling this year. Additionally, I would like to dust off my telescope and get back into astronomy. In years past I would drag my telescope for hours of stargazing but this hobby has been placed on the back burner of late due to work and life in general. Anyway, happy 2013!