TJ Woodruff ONLINE

I’ve been in CO Springs since Thursday evening for a USA Cycling coaching conference.  The days have been simple since I’m staying on the Olympic complex and everything is in close proximity.  There’s time for a quick am workout, plenty of good dining in the cafeteria, and a lot of time sitting in on various lectures related to cycling. It’s been a good experience so far and employing a couple new secret interval workouts ought to be helpful once I’m back to Tucson. Necessary might be more like it since so much of the day is spent writing notes rather than being out on the bike.

Springtime is just around the corner and with it will be some more racing.  I’ll do a handful of events as a means of preperation for the bigger stuff to come later this season.  I’m excited for the Pro XCT events, the Tour of the Gila, and of course some the regional MTB stuff in Wisconsin. I race a lot in a year, but different places and different disciplines keep it fresh and exciting for me. Luckily fast racing helps to allow me to race fast in a snowball-effect sort of way.

Enjoy the riding,  TJ

Giddy.

Up.

Wow. These are some fine racing machines and I can’t thank my sponsors enough for helping to get things all set for the early road season.  TT early this afernoon so we’ll see how ride #3 goes aboard the bike. Hopefully it’ll be really fast since I’ll be wearing the secret weapon.  Back at it,

-TJ

Winter must end with January in Tucson since so far in February we’ve hit 80 degrees most every day. Afternoon riding is now down-right  balmy.  Lately I’ve transitioned to some more climbing oriented workouts so mount Lemmon has been a staple of the weekly routine.  For some reason battling a climb works for me mentally. A bunch of other battles work for me too, but a good uphill fight is always worth the while.  After a ride with Cole earlier this week I’ve learned that there are ways to go even faster on the descent too, so maybe I’ll have to start working on that some more.

Later today I’m going to do my first ever ride aboard a TT bike.  The venue for such a ride ought to be perfect too since it’ll be on the Tour of the Gila TT course. Chloe and are are headed to Silver City for a mini training camp and some recon work of the various stages. With all the heat here in Tucson the cooler temps there ought to be refreshing.  Should have 220+ miles in by Sunday evening…

More details to come after the weekend. There are a mountain passes to be climbed and miles to be ridden so I best get things packed for the weekend.  Next week will be the unveiling of some new gear.  Carbon will be the theme…

-TJ