It's time, again!

Although my 'cross season just ended 8 weeks ago, MTB season is now just a couple days away. The weather this winter has been worse than last year so there is still a possibility the trails will not be ready and the first race might be postponed as it was last year. There are 2 road events this weekend just in case I get itchy legs. I will be contesting 2 different MTB series again this year: The Heartland Series and the Midwest Fat Tire Series. I've won the overall in both series several times over that past 2-3 seasons but this year might be a different story. I'm starting to move other things in life further up the priority list (for a change) so the racing will move down the list and try to become the fun hobby it started out to be over 20 years ago. I will miss one of the Heartland races while i'm in Italy (not complaining about that one). I'll miss several of the MWFTS races due to the driving distance (I've set a 2 hour-each way limit), summer heat and proximity to 'cross season. The Heartland series is good in the sence it's over by June, wereas the MWFTS goes all the way into September. I will do that series though July till it really starts getting HOT and miserable, then shut the mtb season down in favor of my 'cross specific preparation. My MTB is more-or-less ready to go although i'll be racing on last years cassette and chain. It took a few weeks to get my MTB skills back up to par. I rely very heavily on those skills since i'm not the fittest guy out there, but I can out-ride most techinally. My top-secret interval routines have been brutal but effective, so we'll see what happens come Sunday. I've compared this winter to last winter in terms of hours in the saddle, and i'm a bit ahead of last year, and last year I was FLYING at the first few races.