recovery ride for the body AND the mind

I've been in a weird place the last few days. I'm starting to realize why. I've been lying to myself. I've been saying that the decision at Solstice was the right one and that I was ok with it.

Anyone who knows me knows how focused and driven I am. Well the last few days I've wanted to just stare at a wall and not care. Why. Because I'm pissed about the race. There was alot more to it than just placing well. There were some things from my past that are haunting me. I few people in my close family know what those are. I'm working on those things now.

I know that I should look back at the event and take the good from it along with what went wrong. I've done that but I've been finding it hard to recover mentally. There is still alot of racing left for this season.

This is where today was hopefully the start of stage two of the race season. I loaded up the bike and my favorite training partner into the car and was off to Tom's forest. This ride was all about me. No0 training regiment, no heartrate zones, no cares if I stop for a breather. Just have fun.

Plugged in the mp3 player and just cruised for the first 20 minutes. The legs were not happy at first little bit but began to loosen up. It even took a little bit before I started to smile. It did happen though. The flow started to come back.

The Molly Monster was happy to be out also. One of a few puddle stops. SO much for my clean car.

I started to having fun. Hell I was have an amazing time. With singletrack like this how can you not. This is definitely what I needed. The mind is clearer, the body is better, still a little sore but better and my focus towards the next race is starting to grow.

On the drive home it was a quick stop at the lactic flush. There is this great fast flowing river on the 7th line that I usually stop at for Molly. Well it works great for my legs also. I swear the water couldn't have much more than plus 5. My legs felt great after they thawed.

So what am I thinking for the rest of the season. Lost in the Rocks and Trees is first up followed by the Hardwood 8 hour. That will get me through July. August still has some tentative events in it. I'll start picking up the training again this week. I think I'm going to be spending more time on the trails than the roads for the next week or two.

Later