TR Training: Week #14 Numbers

Total Saddle Time: 10 hours, 19 minutes
Total Mileage: 110.8 miles
Total Elevation Gain: 5980 feet

Had a good week, culminating in a very sloppy short-course race on Saturday. Was on the bike 6 of 7 days (spent Sunday running errands and never got a proper recovery ride in after the race) and racked up quite a bit of elevation gain thanks to Monday's "Tiger Mountain Peak Baggers" ride with Craig. Also worth noting this week was that I began working on my core strength exercises more regularly. I hate lifting and calisthenics and I always have -- even when running track in college I avoided the weight room whenever possible -- but I have seen the need and am heeding the call of my lower back. So I'm trying to get in the habit of spending a bit of time each night to do crunches, planks, and some pushups. Also, Kristin and I are going to start using the half-wall upstairs to do back extensions (we need one another to hold our feet so we don't fall down the stairs). Hopefully all of this helps.

In other news, two of my four potential replacements for Ken took the weekend to mull it over and said "no". That leaves two who are interested, but we haven't shook on it yet. I'm hoping to ride with one on Friday and continue talking her (yes, her, and she's easily as fast as me, if not faster) out of doing a different stage race she's currently looking for a teammate for and to join me in August at TR instead. I'll ride with the other one, a guy from Vancouver, BC on Sunday.

All of this teammate-hunting made me nearly forget that my new frame should be coming in within the next 1-2 weeks. I'm hoping it gets here by next weekend, as I'd really like my brother to help me build it and he'll be staying with me for a few days while he's in town for business. I emailed with Fabien at Ti-Cycles again today and he got me the price on the headset and is tracking down the fork I want. He's going to call Moots tomorrow and get an ETA on my frame and then order the parts I still need. I can't wait!

Lastly, I am hoping to share some very exciting news later this week concerning sponsorship for my upcoming race year. I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag yet, as it's not definite, but I should have enough details by the end of the week. Cross your fingers for me.

Did I say, lastly? Scratch that. One more thing: If you're going to be in western Washington on 3/17 and are ready for a moderate-paced 60-70 mile mountain bike ride that will utilize area regional tails to access some really fun singletrack, go ahead and sign up here. It's going to be awesome! And guaranteed to hurt!

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