It happened last year too. I’m getting burnt out. Burnt out on long rides, training rides, suffering, focus. And right on time, too. I’ll maintain fitness through the Kaibab next weekend, and then I’m signing out of serious bike riding for a while. Whether the physical or mental comes first is a false dichotomy: I’m out, temporarily.

Today would be a fine example. I thought of going for a morning ride, but was content to flip the wheel on the monkey and ride fixed around the neighborhood. This evening would have been a great time to get out for a 10 mile hike and put some time of the feet prepping for the Sierras at the end of the month. Or it would be fun to stay home, grill some ribs, drink a beer, eat some ice cream, and sit on the couch reading a book. (I choose b, just so you know.)

It’s healthy, a natural part of the process.

Among other things, my body’s been feeling the strain in the last month. My heels have been tight occasionally, which is a new one, and I’ve had the usual vestigal illotibial soreness after the KMC and the tour last weekend. The later disappeared overnight in both cases, reason I take to not worry. Nonetheless, it’s time to spend more time walking and getting back into morning yoga and core work that I’ve let lapse after too many Mondays and Tuesdays sleeping in until the last possible minute to recover from the weekend. I’ll be ready for whatever the Montana fall has in store.

There is always a future to the present, immediate and long term. Immediate is the rest of the month: the KMC, some time in Zion, the JMT with Woodchuck, and possibly a warm up on the way in eastern Cali. The KMC promises to have a small but stacked field of the region’s most accomplished endurance riders. Zion is Zion, and it’s been too long, and it is very fitting for it to be our last good bye trip in the southwest. Zion is where we hiked the day after we were married, Zion is where we took many trips, Zion is where we had our reception, and Zion is where a big piece of my (and I believe M’s) soul resides. The others are more on the infinite, asymptotic list of adventure projects.

To facilitate these, I added a piece of gear to the arsenal today: a 1.2 oz sleeping mat. $3.50 Walmart windshield screen, cut down to 15″ by 35″. I’m a side sleeper, anyway.

The other gear issue of the moment is bike saddles. I had bad saddle sores from last weekend. A lot of it was I’m sure due to my asinine failure to pack chamois butter. However, the old Pure V demo may be reaching the end of it’s useful life. I’ve liked it, and it’s got me through a lot of riding problem free, but I can’t help but think there may be something better out in the world. The padding may be a bit too squishy for long days, and especially for multiple days. I also think the front may be too wide, chaffing has been a mild issue in the past, and a less mild one last weekend. Our LBS (High Gear) had a Fi’zi:k Gobi on a Cannondale yesterday, and sitting on it in the shop was food for thought. A very, very different saddle. Harder, but perhaps not truly hard. Much skinnier. Curved in practically the opposite way as the WTB; no cut-outs and channels here. A nice long nose for seated climbs, and an upswept back that, as Matt Lee said, might allow a good enduro tilt. My curiosity is piqued enough that one will likely be in for testing soon. The ski fund may well become the saddle fund.

My Brooks has coincidentally enough given up the mountain riding ghost. Whatever holds the tensioning bolt in place at the front of the saddle gave way last week, and JB Weld failed to hold it in place. It’ll go on the townie I intend to put together once we’re in Missoula. Or perhaps given how well abused and used it is, I can sell in on ebay for a profit, and continue my laundering operations of Eric’s hand-me-down components.

Distant future plans are also in the works. Most firmly: the Bighorn 100 at the end of June in 2009, and then and Hardrock 100 in late July (if I get in the lottery). I’ll want to, at the very least, do a tough 50 miler or 100k in mid-late March to keep preparations on schedule, which points to any number of things, most of which school will dis-allow. 3 months out is the magic number, I think.

Besides getting better at skiing, everything else is strictly theoretical.