Cyclocross season is fast approaching it is time to get everything finally dialed in.  Chains, shifters, everything that wears on a bike wears 10x faster on a 'cx bike.  My absolute favorite is grip tape, which I seem to absolutely destroy.  

This year I'll have the luxury of a spare bike.  This is not only great for racing (mechanicals won't quite be such a downer if you have a spare bike) but also for training, by spreading the miles and wear onto two drivetrains instead of one.  In addition, I'm in the process of making the switch back to a set of tubular wheels for 'cross.  Back as a junior I had that great luxury, and I'm looking forward to them again.  This year I'll be running Challenge tires for the first time (back in the day all the only game in town was Tufo's...unless you went to Europe to pick up a pair of Dugasts).

So for these last few weeks before the season really starts it is important to keep all of your equipment maintained and dialed in, because before you know it we'll be lining up at the first KK race of the season in Grand Rapids.  Once it starts, it is a mad dash to December, with most of the weekends between now and then packed with at least one race.  Time and daylight for training will start to diminish, leaving time for bike maintenance at an all-time low.

Training for bike racing is always a bit funny to me because sometimes you don't know what you should have done until a few months after the fact.  You can always look back and think to yourself about what you would have changed during a certain training phase.  This year I'm in a whole new ball game with 60 min elite races.  My workouts have been going well but you never really know until you line up on any given weekend and slug it out for an hour.  These coming weeks before the first race therefore are left a bit up in the air as to what specifically to work on; you can only base your knowledge off of what limited you last year.  

Speaking of starting the season, the Ithaca GP is coming along nicely now.  I'm surprised that pre-registrations aren't over 20 yet (with the Enervit bonus), but it is still just under a month away.  Time for me to start finalizing staffing details for the day so I can watch the event go off (and maybe even race...).

School will be starting for kids on Tuesday.  This year Kristie has an air conditioned room!!!!  I'm very much mentally ready to get back into the swing of a regular schedule and teaching.

Can't wait to line up in a few weeks...'cross season is officially on us soon!