Brilliant or Stupid? I'm Not Sure. Er, Maybe I Am.

So my big lesson for the weekend, was that if you ride a few hours in wet conditions inspiring you not to drink, eat a salad for lunch and a couple diet cokes (Mmmm, fountain refills...), have a burger for dinner with fries and a beer, skip breakfast, then eat a bowl of serial for lunch with a few shots of espresso.... my lesson is if you do all that then have to lay down because you feel awful, it's not because you're getting the flu. It only feels that way. The reason it happens is because you are dehydrated, and the reason you are dehydrated is you didn't think to drink because you didn't feel thirsty, you stupid bastard.

I don't think you need to ask how I know all this.

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I guess they ran Jeff Cup yesterday. For the people for whom Jeff Cup was the defining purpose of their season (after strong Tradezone performances and hard training since October), congratulations! I hope you had a great season!

One of these years I'm going to start a "dead pool" with the names of the people who raced super strong through Tradezone and Jeff Cup, then faded out in a big way. Most people use the early season training races as building blocks toward April/May/June or late season success. Others focus like a lazer on Jeff Cup, it's their goal and what they use as a 'fear of failure' threat to keep the training fire burning in January and December. For that handful of people who focused on Jeff Cup... I guarantee one of them will be selling everything on the MABRA listserve by the end of May, citing a change in priorities, pursuing other recreational outlets and so forth. I don't wish it on anyone, but it is inevitable. Some people build through this time of year, others peak and hit burnout by the time the whistle blows at Carl Dolan. It's a long season if you start in October and hit peak form right about now, and the way training and racing drains the tank, it's not shocking some guys are throwing their bikes into the woods by May 30th, especially since there's two races per weekend in the region, for the most part, between now and mid-June. I hope people remember to keep it fresh and do stuff to keep the riding fun, and that nobody hits the burnout point. But people will no matter what I say.

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Jens Voigt won the Criterium International. Again. For the 5th time.


They should just name that race the Jens Voigt Memorial Omnium and be done with it. Then maybe he'd stop making it his prison wife and leave it alone for a while.