Spring training report

Day one: two fast criteriums, 3-1/2 hours total ride time including warmup and cool down. 15th and 23rd in 40+ and Pro, respectively.
Day two: left house at 6:15 headed east on Yamato Rd to coastline road A1A, went north 1 hour and backtracked same palm-tree, yacht and mansion lined road. 3 hours.
Day three: repeat day two, but no so far up the coast. 2 hours.
Day four: same as Day two, went farther up the coast and met family for a seaside breakfast in Delray Beach. 3 hours.
Day five: Rest day. Legs were really sore and fatigued day before. Did some suntanning and swimming like previous days, but much more of it.
Day six (planned): going to head south on A1A towards Miami, then double back to Palm Beach and home. Hopefully 4 hours.
Day seven: meeting the locals (mostly Zmotion, Coco and Garneau guys, presumably) for a fast group ride at 7:30 am (should be a one hour ride each way) probably 4-5 hours total.
All the training and racing has been "by wire". That is, no computer, no gps, no powertap, no speed or mileage. Just by my five senses alone, combined with some intuition, past experience and common sense. I don't even own a wristwatch, so all I had to use for a reference is my blackberry- for the time that is. The roads are as flat as Ally MacBeal's chest. Route A1A has the Atlantic Ocean on one side, the Intercoastal waterway on the other. It's a strip of land hardly 100 yards wide. It's gorgeous- those manicured and gated Mcmansions, private drydocks, yachts, palm trees, turquoise water, sandy beaches.. There's a designated bike lane and lots of riders heading in both directions. True there aren't a lot of young people around, but it's easy to get over this. It's between 65 and 70 degrees in the early morning. On day two the wind shifted and thousands of Man-o-wars were blown onto shore. My son touched one thinking it was a harmless jellyfish- his hand burned for hours! The M-o-W is not a jellyfish, it's a composite creature built from four separate organisms working together. It floats on the surface of the water using a self inflated "sail". Quite disgusting looking. Tentacles up to 50 feet long and potentially deadly. Water is 74 degrees..
Sunday we head back to wonderful RI. It's not expected to be a joyful reunion. Kudos to my mom for moving to Florida. We'll be visiting her more often, that's for sure. Many thanks to Relentless Cycles for the bike they rented to me for short money. Hat tip to all the racers who came out to the Rosewood Series crit on Sunday. I salute the promoters for a very professionally managed race. This has been a nice trip/camp for me. I didn't lose any weight but my legs are like veined marble and I'm mentally refreshed. My only regret is remembering about my allergy to excessive sun after it's too late- I'm covered in these tiny itchy pimples wherever I'm tan, per usual. That's the least of my worries because I don't know how I'm going to ride in the cold ever again!
Thanks for reading.
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Rosewood Series Criterium 40+ and 123

Aren't you tired of the same old narration of everyone's cyclocross "adventures"? Ok we get it: you lined up, you went full gas for 45 minutes, almost fell a few times, and finished 5 minutes down on the winner. Yay! Okay we're done with that for about 9 months- good riddance!
I raced a crit down here in FL today- it was 85 degrees out! I rented a road bike to make this happen, and expect to ride it every day until we leave.
Long story short: tight technical 1/2 mile course. Laps were about 1:05 to 1:10. I did the 40+ race and with about 7 laps to go I attacked and tried to bridge to the eventual winner. This was the only difficulty of my entire race- the three lap that I held off the field. After getting caught I had about a lap to pull myself together- they rang the bell for 3 laps to go. Riding among all these total strangers on a rented bike, I took no crazy chances, but did manage to needle myself through traffic and up into 15th place. Not too shabby for a 1st race of the season, in February! I had an hour between races so I kept loose by riding around and lined up for the 123 race with good sensations. Unfortunately the fatigue of the previous race reared it's head right quick and my attacking style of the first 3 laps dissipated into a very conservative tailgunner position. This was a LOT faster with all the fresh legs (only one other 40+ racer successfully doubled up- there were 16 DNFs in this race. At any rate I successfully finished in the field (23rd) even though I was put into difficulty pretty often. My winter program seems to be going in the correct direction! A less technical course would have been preferred as well as my own bike- the rental is an Orbea Onix with shimano 105 and heavy wheels. Everyone is on carbon aero wheels. Everyone. Anyway I'm pleased with my form. All those soul crushing intervals are already paying dividends. Now for 6 straight days of long steady distance.. and suntan of course! Stay warm and thanks for reading.
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