I Prefer Barbecue Over Mexican

Its seems like every day someone makes a smug comment regarding my decision to spend the winter in the southeast. I do understand why so many people to go westward from the instant the leaves start to turn, but I am not that weak. As a New Hampshire native and a seasoning Vermonter, I am accustom to extreme climates. Racing Nordic in the darkness of winter and riding bikes when it was humanly possible, every winter I have pushed myself to the limits of what I thought was possible.

Although I have not experienced Arizona training personally, Toby Marzot compares, "a 3 hour New England winter ride is the equivalent of a 6 hour Tucson winter ride". This is both a blessing and a curse for someone in my position. Let me first point out how this makes my situation sweeter than everyone out west, and then I will get into why I may have made a bad call moving to NC.

I can do half as much training and still be as small as all you guys, or I can do that same amount of training but have the privilege of eating twice as much without gaining weight. Both options are equally awesome because as this posts title suggests, I love BBQ and the south has a shit ton of it for me to eat. Ummmm meaty!

The obvious down side to this temperamental weather is that it becomes nearly impossible to get in humongous training blocks. I've coined the phase "Myserson-Miles" to describe back to back 6 hour days, because the concept of criterium racer doing tour racer type training miles was completely foreign to me until this past winter. Each day I am more and more starting to realize that my stubborn New England attitude may be what is screwing me.

I am a crit racer by default, but that is probably because I haven't done enough to improve my road racing skills. This cold weather riding has limited the number of long rides that I can do in a week and has forced me to put precedence on intensity of training. As a result, I am really good at going hard for a short period of time but I cant make it to the finish with the lead guys in a 4-5 hour race.

This season has to be different. I cant make the same mistakes I made in past seasons while going off of poor advice. There is no substitute for volume, PERIOD! I have to use all the powers that make me sweet, like my ego, my superior brain power, and the incredible tenacity that one can only have after being in a nine person family, to motivate me to stop being such a little bitch and just get out on my bike and put in more Myerson-Miles. Only then will start to change my reputation as a bike racer. A revelation that may have come a bit late this season, but late is better than never. My goals are still centered about being successful in the us crit circuit, but I wouldn't mind turning some heads in a couple road races this year.

As I start to hypothesize about next winter I figure that I have two options. Either rent a condo in a retirement home in flordia, or I can sac up and learn to enjoy eating the unamerican foods that dominate the southwest. It hurts me to admit it, but I have a pretty good feeling about going to jump on the train and head west next winter with the rest of the US cycling crew.