Aieeee!

[ridebikeme]

Congratulations Limewave! Don't worry about doing a "crash" course in diet and training; I think you'll have more than enough motivation now!! Besides, you'll continue to get better and better as the season goes along!



http://chasecyclery.blogspot.com

[Tokie]

Maybe you can meet your new teammates and find someone with good judgement to offer training guidance! congratulations!

[SheFly]

Congrats! And I just looked at the site - looks like a similar organization to NEMBA (New England Mountain Bike Association), which also has a race team. I am comparing because I think you are stressing yourself out a bit too much. If your team is like the NEMBA race team, the focus is not on results, but on getting visibility in the MTB race scene, and promoting trail advocacy and responsible use. AWESOME goals!

I'm sure that your team will have members across all categories (couldn't find anything that said it was only Expert/Elite). You have done A LOT of riding/racing, and the fitness will come back. Eight weeks is longer than it sounds - 6 full weeks of training and 2 weeks of recovery.

ENJOY IT. Remove the stress and savor your accomplishments . Above all else, remember that this is supposed to be F-U-N!

SheFly

[tealtreak]

Here is the team I'll be riding for. I'm suddenly feeling the pressure. I've really slacked off on my training and diet. I've started to get soft a bit around the middle I just looked at the calendar and I have a race in 8 weeks!!!! My main goal today is to come up with a nutrition and training plan to get back on track. My biggest worry is trying to over-compensate and end up over-training or causing an injury.

No specific races have been determined yet. It's a new team and it sounds like this is a trial run for them. If I want to stay a sponsored rider, I am definitely going to need to perform! No pressure . . . none at all.

So . . . anyone have a good "Couch to Elite in 8 weeks" training program?

Congratulations!!!!!!Sweet! Exciting! and you are correct- over-training or injury would be a huge bummer at this point (:

[Aggie_Ama]

Ditto what Shefly said about not stressing. I am a sponsored rider for our local bike shop. The owner of the shop is a member of the National Mountain Bike Hall of Fame for his work advocating trails. He doesn't care about results, sure he likes hearing people are successful but what he cares about is us showing a positive face for mountain biking. The hope is through our advocacy (we do trail work, volunteer at events) we'll get more people riding and maybe they'll buy their bikes from the shop. We have regional pros and we have Cat 3 new racers. We even have a growing junior team with kids as young as six!

[limewave]

That makes me feel so much better. I had decided around Christmas time that I was going to focus less on racing this year and more on sharing the sport with my kids--they seem to love it. I am hoping that this opportunity won't take away from that goal but rather compliment or even enhance it

[tealtreak]

That makes me feel so much better. I had decided around Christmas time that I was going to focus less on racing this year and more on sharing the sport with my kids--they seem to love it. I am hoping that this opportunity won't take away from that goal but rather compliment or even enhance it

3 cheers for sharing the sport with your kids, our shared loves have evolved into vacations based on the quality and quantity of trails and whitewater (:

[SheFly]

That makes me feel so much better. I had decided around Christmas time that I was going to focus less on racing this year and more on sharing the sport with my kids--they seem to love it. I am hoping that this opportunity won't take away from that goal but rather compliment or even enhance it

Kudos to you! I think you have the right attitude here. Racing needs to be fun for all of us. DH and I finally came to the realization last year, that in our mid-40s, we are NOT going to be the next big cycling racers, so we switched our focus to sharing our passion with juniors (we don't have any kids) who MAY be the next big cycling name. This complements our racing, and makes it more fun for us. Not to mention, the rewards are huge!

Again, congrats on being on the team. I think this is a terrific compliment to you, and your goals. Just remember that you are doing this for fun

SheFly

[Crankin]

This makes me happy. Limewave, keep riding with those kids!!!!
SheFly, I wish you had been the coach when Scott was racing for your team.
I highly suspect his whole life might be different.