The Essence

I tried to sign up for the LA Circuit Race, and was told Saturday afternoon that I had was 3rd on the waiting list. This is somewhat frustrating for two reasons; 1) I had tried to sign up pretty early and 2) if I'd known I had a good shot at getting in I wouldn't have ridden 60 miles/5k feet of climbing on Saturday. Anyway, the Saturday ride was good and included some very hard work. Climbing Latigo for the first time in a while (50 mins at 85% effort), I felt good. Hard efforts after that had me cramping in the quads, but it was manageable.

Today, Sunday, I decided to only do something short on the bike (i.e. no racing!) so I could spend some time w/ Jean and Jack. I have to admit, when the weather turned out to be good today (contrary to fcst) I did have a moment earlier this morning when I thought about running down to LAX to race. I would not have been sharp after yesterday's effort, but it would have brought me one race closer to an upgrade to exit Cat 5. But that would have meant burning the whole afternoon, so instead Jack slept on me for an hour and Jean was able to go on her first real post-birth hike.

This to me is the essence of the balance I'm trying to achieve this year. I've gotten a lot of riding in lately, and I thought it was important to spend time w/ Jack and hopefully give Jean some free time. She has been so supportive of my crazy racing efforts, even encouraging me to go today, but it's better the way things worked out today. There are plenty of other racing opportunities in the coming months...