Season wrap up. My thoughts on it. And moving to Arizona.

Well, the season didn't wrap up quite the way I wanted it to.

I was scheduled to my last race of the season at a local criterium that was also master's state crit champs. My legs felts good and I was excited. Given that my previous 2 races had been top 5 performances, I fancied my chances at the podium.

However, it was not to be as 10min. into the race there was a crash and someone fell into my rear derailleur, ripping it off the bike. I hadn't even really started racing yet!

So, I packed up my stuff and headed back to Denver. Got the derailleur hanger replaced on my way at my awesome sponsor shop Elevation Cycles. It cost my $14.00 and some good conversation.

I was reflecting on how the season went and how I felt about it. In my first race in April I got dropped after 15 or 20min (in a 30min race). My second race I made it 30 out of 40min. My third race saw me able to surf the front of the field and finish in the group - the big goal for the season. In my 4th race I was 4th. And in my fifth race I was 5th. 

Overall I'm pretty happy with how fast and how much I improved. Given my age, and the fact that I haven't totall recovered from chemo and cancer yet (I may never not have cancer), I have to be happy with how things went. So, I'm gonna give it a B-. 

I'd have liked to podiumed at a race as the local officials let it be known that if I podiumed I'd be automatically upgraded to cat. 3 (they remember when I was a cat. 1). And, honestly, I was looking forward to the idea of helping out my Full Send Racing team-mates at the races.

The following Friday my lovely wife flew into Denver to collect me for the move to Phoenix. The children and all our stuff were already down there I was the last piece of the puzzle. We stopped in Taos, NM - a favorite of ours - on the way south and spent a few days drinking margaritas, hiking and hanging out in the mighty Rio Grande.

(The last time I did this hike in Taos, it was super hard for me. Even at the pace of my son. Turned out I was riddled with cancer. We should have known. This time I all but ran up it!) 

(The Rio. Always a happy place for me.)

Then we made the final push to AZ to land in my new home of Phoenix. I'm looking forward to tapping into the cycling community here, and continuing my work with spinal cord injury patients. I'm in my "off season" until the last week of August. Timing wise, if I want to be ready for the Valley of the Sun stage race on the Valentines Day weekend next February, I have to start training again in August. I think there are still more gains for me to make so I'm going to carry on racing (provided family and professional obligations don't preclude training and racing).