It's been a full month since the last blog post. I know that blogs are more of a 2008 thing. From a business perspective, I still think it's valuable to highlight my accomplishments, lessons learned, and the accomplishments of my clients. So if you're reading, thanks for coming along for the ride!

MTB Race Results:  continue to have mixed results here with more good than bad. The Road and MTB summaries have a common theme = what Robbie Ventura referred to as the X-factor to bicycle racing. See below for more on this. In any case, the guys are fit enough. It's just getting all the other factors optimized to finally get the results they desire. I do have a few standout performers though in the form of WORS Elite and Comp age group leaders = nice!

Road Results:  Here's one reply I had to a client that "retired". It falls heavily into the "lessons learned" bucket:   Yes, you were my GREATEST failure in that our relationship was solid, your work ethic was superb, and I really enjoyed working with you; but the X-factor is what ultimately did US in. And, I'm really just getting to understand how to apply my motocross and MTB racing background to road racing, and how to improve the X-factor from a technique/tactical/mental standpoint. It all applies. I needed a ToAD experience, along with the TE clinic, to put it all together. But, in the final analysis, road racing is a high risk/high reward sport. That is why I have a hard time saying "Just Do It".

X-factor:  again, I have to thank Robbie Venture for making this distinction clear in my mind as part of his involvement in the Team Extreme Road Racing Clinic. The X-factor is everything else other than fitness. You can lump equipment, technique, tactics and strategy into this category, along with the mental aspects of racing. WOW! That's > 50% of the equation that I've been shying away from because of liabiity, and because clients haven't grabbed on to "paying to learn". So, for my long standing coaching clients I'm working to ride with each one of them, to point out areas of improvement, and to show them how to improve these X-factor limiters.

Bike Fitting:  business is picking up here. Always great to help clients be more comfortable & powerful on their bikes = pretty awesome!

Personal Results:  I met a 2010 goal in my average speed of 27.1 MPH at the the Bong 30K TT. The same day I failed miserably at the WORS Sunburst MTB race by "hitting the wall from a physical perspective", and pulling out of the race after 3 of 5 laps. Additionally, my frame broke during this race, (not because of hitting the wall), and was just recently rebuilt.
Because of the MTB failure, I moved on to the ToAD road racing series. ToAD is a 10 race/10 day Wisconsin based road racing series. It has separate awards for each day, and series awards for the overall. The highs were 2 wins and 1 second place finish; and 3rd overall in the series (Cat 3). The lows were my crash in the finishline sprint at Greenbush along with sitting out 2 days/races afterwards to recuperate. That experience was awesome from an overall perspective; I learned so much. Thanks to all that made it possible!