RACE MY RACE!

LAPAKAHI STATE PARK

(Just before the 6 mile climb into Hawi. Notice the Coconut Tree's blowing.) These are the conditions I'm expecting this year!

Today while riding I had a few experiences worth noting. First, the stop light at the King Shops turned red, so I come to a stop. A guy in green pulls up next to me. A familiar face that goes by the name of Norman Stadler. The light turns green and we take off. I tried to hang on as long as I could. This didn't last very long and before I knew it I was just barely keeping him in sight. I told myself to swallow my pride and back off. Save it for the race and go easy like I was supposed to.

Second, I was passing the airport and caught a rider. This was the only other person I saw on the way back besides Norman. It wasn't more than a couple of minutes and the guy I just passed, passed me. A couple minutes later he slowed a bit and I passed him again. The whole time I was keeping my easy steady pace. Again a few minutes passed and he passes me again. This was like playing cat and mouse. After the fifth pass I decided I had enough and just slowed down to a crawl so he could get ahead of me. I was trying to keep my pace and he kept putting in surges. This was really annoying!!! Talk about IRRITATING!!!

These two experiences this morning just reinforced the idea of racing your race. Staying in your zones not anyone else's. Me trying to stick to Norman was far fetched, especially when I was supposed to be riding easy! Playing cat and mouse with someone will cost me in the long run! A well executed race is much better than over powering one discipline and then suffering in the other. RACE SMART!

Got a massage today and one more on Tuesday. Getting the body primed for the race. Today, I unveiled my aero helmet. ITS AWESOME! Orange, blue, gray and red with stickers. One of a kind. You can't miss me on the bike! It's also time to put on the aero bottle and the ZIPPS! Time to get serious!