For over a decade I have been participating in some big bike races, my first was a 24 hour solo back in 2002. I have also been on a gluten, dairy, soy, nut, egg free diet for about 13 years. The thing is after a race, I let down my guard and eat, drink and be merry. I have thought about it a lot and after doing an event that takes everything you have, that fills every cell with adrenaline, joy, pain it is hard to just come down and settle back into day to day drudgery. Therefor I eat delicious naughty food, drink too much coffee, and beer, to keep the full feeling going as long as possible.

The problem is that I then recover so slow, bogging down my poor body with food that I can’t digest, fluids that don’t get me ready for the next race. I have been able to overcome this with my tenacity and bull headed-ness, but I am getting older and it ain’t so easy to power through the obstacles as it has been. Plus I am not done. I keep thinking I will give up racing, torturing myself with uber long days upon days of riding, but I just love it. Here tired and sore from the Growler yesterday I am brimming with desire for my next race, 24 Hour Nationals, in less than three weeks. I really truly love this stuff, pretty sure I want to do it for a long time to come and want to keep doing it at the limits of my ability.

That all said I ate nothing I shouldn’t have eaten, I didn’t drink any beer, I am only having one cup of coffee this morning. I am going to work on my bike and go for a short spin today. I am going to stretch and sooth my body so I can get some more training in before heading to Gallup for 24 hours of as many miles as I can muster. And all this makes me feel so happy! I normally don’t want to stop the debauchery of eating and drinking, right now I am loving this focus and desire. Shall see where it takes me, can’t wait.