Nothing specific of interest is going on right now.

In about a month, I’ll be taking unpaid sabbatical to head west out to race Pierre’s Hole and the Breck Epic. I’d originally planned on a longer, more Epic® trip that included the Breck 100, but the time spent from home/work would have been closer to 7 weeks if I’d given myself time to acclimate. So, the mini-epic will be a truncated version- I’ll drive out to Victor, ID to stay with Amanda for 2 weeks around the PH100, then head down to Breckenridge to tackle the Epic. I’ve vowed to NOT drive home while I’m feeling race-trashed, so I’ll hang out in the Front Range area for a few days and recover before I make the long trip home.

‘Til then, I’m falling back in love with training for shorter races. Two-3 hour interval rides are a welcome reprieve to the 4-6 hour endurance/interval rides that I’ve been grinding out. Along with higher intensity training, I’m not drinking much beer. Turns out, the less beer butt (like a beer gut, but for women) I have to haul, the faster I can go up those big hills they have out in the Rockies. According to Dicky, this behavior is also known as “doping.” All I need to add now is some strength/beauty tea:

In other news, read this article about the 2013 stuff coming from Cannondale: Bike Rumor- Cannondale Press Camp

First off, I want to mention that I’m still a holdout for not using disc brakes in Cyclocross races (and by “cyclocross races,” I’m not talking about gravel grinders/Ultracross races that involve long, sometimes steep descents on gravel roads). If the conditions are wet and muddy (when the discs would have a distinct advantage over rim brakes), chances are that if you just stop pedaling for a second, you’ll be going plenty slow. Also, I’m the queen of bruising myself via unintentional contact with my own cyclocross bike. Looks like if the current trend continues, I’ll also be the queen of slicing and/or burning myself with a warm disc rotor as well. However, since Cannondale now only offers discs on their badass frame, other manufacturers will likely follow suit, and, at some point, I’ll be forced, kicking and screaming, into the “new technology,” and it’s likely I’ll get over it. But, until then, I’ll just bitch and moan about how much they’re not necessary.

More importantly, though, is the Cannondale Supersix Evo Women’s bike. Hell. Yes. (If you missed my post about thoughts on women’s bikes, read here: http://blog.brickhouseracing.com/?p=4378.) I absolutely love that they’re going all out with a women’s model. I’ve already contacted our Cannondale rep to let him know that I’m in for one as soon as humanly possible. As far as I can tell, everything about the bike is exactly as I’d like it built (except for its lack of carbon clinchers, but that’s splitting hairs). I’d be removing the badass one-piece chainring/spider and replacing it with a powermeter spider, but otherwise, the stock bike is a rare bird of perfection out of the box.

That’s kinda all for now. Life is pretty stable for now. Just waiting.