My meter has been on the low side recently

I had been a little down in the dumps since returning from Interbike. I think it’s a combination of all the travel and general malaise that comes with the end of the racing season. But the coupe de grâce was Interbike. That place just crushed me on so many levels, professionally as well as personally. Being on the road for so long I missed the people in my life. You are surrounded by so many people on these trips, yet you often feel alone and tired, which is not a good combination. Not to help, but I was also listening to a lot of Placebo, which isn’t always the most cheerful music. Thank God that these trips are over for the time being.

My life both professionally and personally revolves around the racing season, so I think as the season winds down, my body does as well. I’ve had little energy and haven’t written anything meaningful since Interbike, not that I write a lot of meaningful stuff anyways. I was loading my bike to my roof rack yesterday when Tony sees me and asks where I’m going. I tell him that I’m going to train in the local hills, but I am really lacking motivation to train, but I need to. Not to say I haven’t been training at all. In my classic Type A, obsessive compulsive personality that is so attractive, I have thrown myself into Pilates. But I still need cycling conditioning as well because I kind of committed to doing a road race in Death Valley at the end of the month and ‘cross season has started, so I need to be in shape for that beat down of biblical proportions.

“Yeah me too. I’ll start riding again when I feel motivated.” Tony says. However, Tony has enough residual fitness that he doesn’t need to train to be competitive for the local ‘cross races. That is not the case with me. So I’m training yesterday for really the first time in about a month and starting to feel better physically and mentally. Even today as I write this I continue to feel better and will ride up Old Road in Santa Clarita. Hell, I think that maybe I’ll even write something for the magazine today as well!

Cruz not too concerned with training right now

* an inside joke about how I have characteristics of the armadillo