New bike new goals

So the frame for my bike showed up saturday and I am wondering what the plan is for the new ax. I think my two stunning defeats this spring have left me a bit gun shy of another road race. It's a pretty big commitment and effort to attend one. And if poor results are a very good likelihood it doesn't seem to be a wise choice of limited time.

So what are my choices then?

1) set racing aside for a bit and concentrate on group rides and preparing for ragbrai. This feels like quitting to me and I'm not ready to give up yet.

2) the black dog road time trial series. Every two weeks they run a time trial in a southern suburb of minneapolis. So every other week you can go race your previous time and the other competitors. I think this is a good option for me. I would get some competition time and the roller coaster ride that comes with it and it's a good metric to gage my fitness and progress.

3) Stay in the batters box and keep swinging.  Keep going to road races and crits and take my lumps. Chalk it all up to learning.  the fun to pain ratio seem a tad steep for me.

I think what I'll do is... ride a bit on the new bike to get comfortable then start in on the black dog TT.  if I am doing well in my category consider another road race or perhaps my first crit.

I am going to start a new section to my entries on my training notes to keep a record for fun and review later.

Training Notes: June 1 2008

group ride three friends on the mendota route. one of the people was a relative beginner and so the pace was a bit slow. Also the beginner didn't drink nearly enough and was really fading toward the end.

37.14 miles. That's 59.77 k for all you nosey Aussies : )

max hr:178

av hr: 128

calories: 1693

 av speed 13.44