My overriding goal this year is to get huge gains in bike fitness until we hit the holidays, so that when I have to spend the next six months working/studying 65 hours/week I have some shred of bike fitness to maintain, and regain when that horrible study season is over.

But I'm a pretty lazy person. So I set a couple of intermediate goals to keep me motivated. The first is coming up in a month: the Test of Endurance. A local 50 mile mountain bike race with about 7,000 feet of climbing. Now that it's getting close I'm completely freaked out. I've managed to get a bit of coaching now, at the last minute, and I'm hoping it'll help. I just want to finish.

After the mountain bike season ... I'm going to race 'cross. That should be freakin' hi-larious. I'm going to need to start practicing mounting and dismounting the day after the Test. It aint gonna be pretty.