Well, it certainly came today. Winter is showing her face to us all….or at least the potential for what is brewing in the clouds swirling above Boulder. An ice-fog covered the town this morning as the hard men and women converged on Vics…all wondering who would show given the artic temperatures. If you didn’t show, it’s your ‘tell’ that cross may not be your bag. Or at least we try to think that quietly to ourselves, shivering in the cold as we envision those who aren't there, rolling around in their footie PJ’s, still in their cozy warm beds as we try to get the feeling back in fingers and toes.

For the first time in a few weeks I ‘crossed. I can not tell you the joy I had railing the trails with my family of hardened compatriots. Each week since I hit the deck and re-injured my shoulder, I’ve been a slave to the PT and truly worked on another skill that I typically lack: Patience. It paid off by not rushing back into racing and everything felt really good thankfully. In fact, I decided to truly keep conservative at ‘Worlds this AM and slowed my tempo down to not risk anything…especially after Dubba pulled me aside and re-enforced with me “…not to crash. Get your practice on and get back to racing.” It was super fun and the last few weeks of long epics really made me feel fresh and ‘want it.’

This weekend, USGP’s. It will be epic. And I will race my bike. It’s time to go.