The Second Half

One cyclical pattern I can count on each year is the first weekend of December. Friday night is always a corporate party we attend on behalf of our hotel group owners, and Saturday is the Dawn til Dusk mountain bike race in what’s left of the desert surrounding the hell of the south we call Phoenix. Enough about the corporate stuff already.

The race is on a singletrack loop of crushed granite. When it’s dry, I can’t think of a faster surface besides pavement. Climbs are easy if you keep your mo, washes are deep, and the traction is outstanding until about 20+ mph when you kind of lose contact with the granite – but you can float the curves at high speed if you are careful. New year, same partner, same plan, same course. Last year we managed 3rd place out of 8 teams….nothing to get all giddy about, but we rode pretty well and got some nice beer glasses for our $150 entry fee. This year….8 teams again, so far anyway. My goal isn’t necessarily a podium, rather, I want to see if I am in better shape at this point than I was last year – so lap times will be my focus. Forecast is for 72 degrees and sun. Mmm, yeah, that’ll work!

Our two month stretch of Monday night crits was broken last night as 4 inches of snow blocked two of the four turns on the oval. I hopped on the rollers with Paris-Roubaix on the computer screen and good intentions, and managed 35 whole minutes of legitimate work. That sucked. I suck. Fuck the rollers and the trainers. I’m gonna man up and just keep going outside in either cycling gear or running gear, or snowshoe gear or snowboard gear. This indoor “trainer” does nothing for me mentally or physically.

Me, C-Dub and AA did a pretty technical loop on Saturday in Sedona, and a couple of the sections were true 10’s on my sphincter ‘puck-o-meter’. We’re not talking “no f’ing way” drops, we’re talking “hmmm, I think I could probably do that, but why don’t you go first” kind of drops. Having 29” wheels helps, but there’s still good potential for injury and AA was the smart one of us three – walking the steeps. Yeah – he may not experience the rush of clearing the drop, but damn if that rush doesn’t last too long and I start thinking about…..

…….the overall lameness of my healthcare. My policy has been whittled down, based on a fixed reimbursement from my employer, to the point where I have a $2,500 deductible and every time I go see a doc it’s almost as expensive as cash. Screw this. It’s HSA time….tax protected Health Savings Account + a cheaper policy with a 10K deductible. Pay as you go. Pay for what you use…enough of me making Blue Cross richer year after year.