[Posted by Andy Schultz on www.schultzbrothersracing.com, part of the Cyclingdirt Network.]
I remember a trip I took with my brother and Dad back when I was a little chappy. We backpacked into the Pintler Wilderness in Montana and were camping next to a brilliantly clear lake. I remember standing on a 15 foot cliff and dropping rocks into the water. The water was so clear that you could watch the rock sink 50 feet to the bottom of the lake. This isn't the lake I'm talking about but it is Ice Lake, the most brilliant colored lake I have ever seen I did the Shootout this morning (a fast paced group ride in Tucson) and kind of felt like the rock. When the pace got upped, I held on as long as I could but slowly became that rock, looking up, watching the surface of the lake move further and further away until I was by myself, off the back. I don't think that bodes well for my early season fitness, but on the brightside, since I have a rest day tomorrow and had to leave the house at 6:30am to meet the ride, I got home really early so it is kind of like having two rest days in a row. Maybe I'll use the extra time to do my taxes. Probably not. But I'm sure I'll spend plenty of time thinking about how I should be doing them. I have been staying plenty busy this week even without having a camp at the house. I drove up to Phoenix on Tuesday and met with a trainer who has been putting together a strength and core program for me. I'll talk more about that in other post. I even managed to get out on my mountain bike for a ride on Mount Lemmon. When I'm in Durango I ride my road bike maybe twice. The rest of my time is spent on the mountain bike. For some reason it is the other way around when I'm in Tucson and I'm lucky if I make time to get out on my mountain bike once a week. I don't know why that is. I guess this time of year it is all about steady long rides, which is more conducive to road riding and I'm not that stoked on desert riding. This year has been really wet in Tucson. We have gotten over three inches of rain since the beginning of the year. That's a lot of rain for the desert. All the major washes in town have been running for almost a month and Mount Lemmon is saturated like a sponge. Every little gully on Lemmon has water running down it and there are places were water is just oozing from the ground. Luckily the ground is just sand to rather than coming back covered in mud after my ride I just had a little sand splattered on me. This time of year is always exciting because there is a slow but steady trickle of new gear from sponsors arriving at the door. Check out my new sweet Pearl Izumi kicks: It is also a little hectic too. With the first big race of the year looming just around the corner at Bonelli some sponsors are scrambling to get stuff out the door on time. Looks like it is going to be pretty tight timing wise for my Felt frame to arrive before Bonelli. So I still don't have a complete new bike built up but it will come. I'll be sure to do a post about it as soon as I get it built. It is going to be sweet. Well, we're on the eve of another Hammer Camp so it is time to go check out the pantry and refrigerator and start making a grocery list.
