Freak

Tomorrow will be a long ass day for yours truly. I've been really diligent about my diet and training this week, putting in good long efforts on Tuesday and Wednesday. First half of the week I even ate well. I immediately notice any dietary changes, I can drop 4 lbs in a day just by keeping the wrong stuff out of my body. Unfortunately, starting with Wednesday night, I've not been drinking enough water, which always leads to me eating more food, and bloating up again. Yesterday I didn't have much in the tank (probably dehydration) so I just went out and spun for a half hour, worked on my secret trail and played guitar. By evening, I had already eaten a large, mostly rice, meal for lunch and a large snack prior to heading to a friends for dinner. Two large bowls of Curry, two plates of salad, three brownies and 1.5 beers later I stumbled home and immediately into bed without stretching or drinking water or any of the other things I usually do that make the mornings nice and sunny.

So, here I am, on the couch, congested, bloated, dehydrated and a little unmotivated, with perhaps the longest day of my year looming less than 23 hours away. What to do? Water, water, water, water, coffee, stretch, water, yoga, water, ride, play music, eat right (Quinoa anyone?) drink one beer, change tube on the cross bike (perpetual flats) sleep. I keep talking about tomorrow being this insurmountable obstacle, but really, it's just the first of two really awesome days. Tomorrow AM I'll be up early, headed to Fayetteville for the Beat the Freak cyclocross race. I'll be racing my 4th and 5th races of the season (you'd think as much as I think about it I'd find a way to race a little more than just 8-10 times a season). Single Speed race starts at 10:45, goes 45 minutes, then immediately after the CX4 race starts, goes for 30 minutes. As soon as I'm done, I have to get home to shower, then drive 3 hours to Louisville, KY for a 5pm soundcheck and 8pm show. When the show's over, if I have the energy, I drive home. More likely I'll hole up in a seedy south Louisville hotel for the night. I will, at this point, be a very tired, but very happy camper.

But the fun isn't over yet, oh no, my friend. 11am Sunday morning, Sarah and I head to LP Stadium for the Titans/Jets game. Get to see old Brett Favre try to topple our undefeated Titans (not a fluke). Average one 18 ounce beer per quarter (make sure you get the last one prior to the end of the third as they shut the taps off as soon as it's over) then stumble over to the in-laws for family dinner. All in all, a pretty choice weekend. It'll be interesting to see how the show goes, I was useless after the race last week and I didn't have to drive 6 hours or stand up and rock for 2 hours either.

Next week I've decided I'm headed down to Conyers, GA for a race. It was either that or go to Montgomery AL, and since Conyers separates the CX4 and SS races, I can do the double. My quest to qualify for CX3 next year continues. My mental quest to decide if I should go geared for CX3 or just be that guy on a SS also continues. I'm leaning toward being "that guy" as it'd give me an excuse to build up a really devastatingly sick/light/fast SS cross rig. Drawback is that it would only get used for cross racing, unlike a geared cross rig I could use for commuting, riding the road, even touring down the road. Like I said, the mental quest continues.