2012 recap begins... with a 2011 recap?

Dear weblog,
Remember me?

I've thought to capture some 2012 hilights month by month but a little 2011 recap may be a good place to start.  2011 ended with a trip to the cold eastern lands of my old haunts to visit moms and pops at their places.  It was a good trip and a nice break from the bike.  I don't know if it's smell, weather or what but sometimes when you suddenly find yourself in your old stomping grounds the memories (not something I am usually good about retaining) kind of come flooding in around the corners.  Usually that's a good reminder of where you've been and, despite the weather, I really have nothing but fondness for my days living in the Mid-Atlantic.

The end of 2011 was a bit frustrating bike-racer wise.  I really enjoyed some excellent fitness and training seemed to be spot on.  I did notch one good result in a cross race but mid-pack seemed to be the standard result.  I did nail my peak but then was unlucky with the bike on that day and that was a huge bummer.  Luckily I found the high ground with myself and decided that it was really a very good year where I finally got the hang of self-coaching.  I ended 2010 as a guy who rode alot but haphazardly and a year later I was able to fine tune all that riding, be more efficient and be able to make my body do what I wanted it to do when I wanted it.  For the most part.

So that made 2012 an encouraging future of applying my newly learned coaching to myself and building on what I learned in 2011.  In theory...