Coming out of the “off-season”, I knew I would be out of shape… but I didn’t really anticipate how severe my laziness and lack of training really affected my overall endurance, fitness, and ability to ride/run/swim/train.
The weekend before the US Cup race at Bonelli Park, Minh and I headed out to do a little course recon and to determine whether or not I thought I’d be in any shape to race. We quickly discovered that I wasn’t in any shape to be racing… the new course is a lot “more fun”, which means more technical, more punchy, and less forgiving. My bike handling skills just weren’t up for what would be a brutal beat-down the following weekend, but I was glad we got a preview of the course (rocky downhills, singletrack switchbacks, off camber, rock gardens, logs and all…).
Here's Minh riding through some singletrack with a nervous look on his face...
While we were out there, we did a pre-ride of the Xterra Renegade course that I will be racing in April. The course is the same as last year (at least that’s what we assumed), which meant that I had already done the course before. There’s just one hike-a-bike section that will slow me down, but for the most part, the course is completely ride-able and with some focused training, should be fairly “easy”. I’m actually pretty excited about this race, which will be my first triathlon of the year! Now if only I could get my legs to cooperate so that I could get some good runs in.
Dirty dirty bikes after the ride.. thanks to all the mud...
After the ride, we stopped by The Hat for some pastrami and delicious onion rings… grease and fat – the two necessary ingredients for the perfect pre-ride meal… yum!
Condiments GALORE at The Hat!
mmm.... Patrami...
greasy and delicious onion rings
Think Tran 
I miss The Hat š¦ nom, nom!