Week #62: Death March and New Life

I'm not really sure what to say about this year's Death March, except that we were really ill-prepared and it was really hard. Of course, I knew that going in, and there was really very little I could do, especially when I ended up spending most of the last week and half before the race with a nasty cold. So we just rode the best we could, and stuck with the minimalist approach, which meant no Callahan, Gorbits, Hawkins, or Gil Gal. Anything that we got beyond the required checkpoints was either directly on the way or required less than a mile of detour.

Still early, still smiling.

Somehow after two fewer total miles and six fewer miles of singletrack, we still managed to finish an hour slower than last year. I know that conditions were worse this year, but it was still disappointing. I'm not sure how we finished, because we didn't stay around for results. I would still guess top third or so in the co-ed division, but who knows.  Along the way, Frank asked if this was my third Death March, and I said yes, it was my third start, although my first attempt didn't go so well. I said I'd had one very bad one and one very good one, so I guess I was due for a medium one. We did okay, and it wasn't any more painful than one would expect under those conditions.

I had to mock Frank just a tiny bit.

Now for the good news. Although our Death March campaign didn't turn out the way we'd hoped at the beginning of the winter, admittedly not much did. However, it all seems to have worked out, as this morning I accepted a new job at Penn State that included a hefty raise. I'll be moving to State College on April 6 and starting my new job on April 14. We still have some housing issues to work out, as I try to figure out what to do about my lease in Bloomington from April-August and we decide whether we want to cave to the demands the 21-year-old aspiring slumlord that recently purchased the house where Frank has lived for three years or look for a new place for August. So there are still a few things to work out, and moving is always a pain in the butt, but we finally get to be together full-time without too much financial distress, so yay for that!

Our best #scenicvistaselfie yet.

It's going to be an interesting season to say the least. We're signed up for Barry-Roubaix in a couple of weeks, which will be my last race before I move. Then my goals are mostly centered around me vs. Rothrock for the summer, but as a test of that, I will probably race either the Rothrock TrailMix or Stoopid 50, depending on my fitness and skills in mid-June. Otherwise, I just want to ride bikes with Frank.