It's time

It's time for me to stop being super lazy and to take advantage of my time.
It's time for me to start back on the "diet."
It's time to start training - for real.

After a season of not (really) racing I've got to hit the winter training hard so next season I can do something out there.

PLUS - there is a winter short track series down here in Charlotte.  It's called short track - but I had no idea how short it actually was - until Sean and I hit it up this weekend.  I've ridden Renni before, and saw signs for the short track while riding the main loop.... but I always imagined that the race course pretty much encompassed the entire loop - as that would be shorter than any "real" race course.  But nope, the short track is less than a mile - with what seems to be about half of it consisting of a gravel road "climb" back to the start.

Should be a pretty interesting race series.  It's a timed race, so you get in as many laps as you can.  The've got some nice berms packed in there, and it's definitely a fast little loop.  There is a Team Competition which appears to be pretty big - and I've already been recruited (tentatively) for it.  I'll keep that under wraps until anything becomes official.

So the plan is - get my ass back in shape and ride the crap out of Renni (well, especially the short track).  I want to go in knowing the thing like the back of my hand - no room to be hitting the brakes because you are surprised by the trail.  There is one section where there is an option - a nice rocky burst of a climb - that I'm guessing is taped off during the race (as it doesn't seem to get much love anyway).  I do enjoy riding it, as it gives me a brief flashback to NE riding, but I guess I'll have to get in the habit of blasting the round-about.

No more excuses, training starts full throttle today.  Well... as "full throttle" as I can get.  I guess dedicated would be a better term.  So yeah, today starts my dedicated training.  Oh, and don't worry - fun will still be had.  I'll still be riding for fun - maybe a little harder, faster, or with more effort - but bottom line: mountain bike rides will still be fun!