WOW!

Far more exciting lately than my own griping about the weather has been following the success of friends: Katheryn Curi Mattis, who came up with me through New England racing (and evidently kept going) and who was my teammate in 2004, won the Geelong World Cup! Berkshire champion and accomplice on many snow hikes (not to mention mechanical savior) Dave Drumm made the bikes tip-top for the race, Velo Bella teammate Amy Dombrowski continues her lightning rise through international racing, and former teammate Erinne Willock looks poised for a great season. Wow. And while I pine a bit for such racing adventures, I also have an acute awareness of how extremely difficult it is to do what they have done – physically but especially the extreme level of sacrifice and the opportunity costs in other areas of life. Here in Connecticut, I need to hold out one more week before I head to Asheville for our Advil team camp and my spring break training block. I am still thinking hard about how to give a freshness to the season, how to step it up. Men’s racing would be really good for me, since I am quite good in terms of 1-4hr fitness, far less good in terms of 1-10minute fitness. I need to not feel I am failing to support the women’s sport and the promoters who make it happen, or imply that the quality of the regional women’s fields is not high. Other tidbits: I neglected to realize that my bottom bracket had gone to hell so now that it’s been replaced I feel I am riding a lightning bolt. Looking forward to Bethel this weekend, and I have plenty else to keep me busy, such as memorizing the meanings of acronyms such as BACT, BDAT, and BAT (anyone know these?) and nailing down some thesis stuff. Too many interests (better than too few). The Yale team has its first collegiate race weekend this weekend – hurray! Our email list contained this great bit of advice from one German graduate student: Think of this: Ein gutes Pferd springt so hoch wie es muss, nicht höher. (A good horse jumps as high as it has to, not higher)