It's Only 29 Friggin Days Away

I'm not exactly sure what to think about the fact that in about a month, we'll be packing our bikes and bags and heading to State College for 7 days of frolicking on our bikes. Actually, I try NOT to think about it - it makes me too nervous and the thought process hurts: Am I riding enough? Will I last 7 days of hardcore trail riding? Will my bike hold up? Should I take it for a tune-up before I go? Should I take spare parts? Will there be a kid there I can hire for the week to clean it up and check it over after each ride? Will the food be ok... should I take my own can't-live-without-staples like soy protein? What will I wear? What will cover my jiggly parts? Will we make the cut off each day? Are we riding fast enough to make that cut-off? And on. And on. And on. So what do I do? Just not think about and go ride. This week was an easy rest week and my thoughts focused on work -- it's a bit nutty right now with the new Gov implementing his new initiatives. Folks are NOT getting replaced as they quit, so the work just keeps piling up hirer and hirer on the rest of us that stay. It's starting to get old. Not to mention the fact I haven't gotten a raise now for 3 years for taking on this extra work. It's starting to get REAL old. Biking is my escape from my work madness at the moment. My wonderful boss has been allowing me to take Fridays off to help my mom so I can ride on weekends. He's an outdoors guy and thinks that me training for this race is pretty cool. I'm grateful for that. So today, I'm off and plan to take a lovely two-hour back country road ride on Jake (the cyclocross bike) this afternoon to "escape" from it all. And while I'm doing that, I won't think about too much except dodging cracks in the road and road kill. Not even the royal wedding would keep me from my escape. Thank you bike!