Kimberly and I are planning to take the 2011 year off from racing our bicycles. It's shocking, I know, but there is a method to what appears to be madness.
Racing bikes is a lot of stress. (Talk to me when I'm toward the end of a "hard cycle", and you'll hear me snarl.) For me, cycling is much like a part-time job, and I'm already employed full time. With two children and two full-time jobs, Kimberly and I already tend to run pretty close to our limits. It wouldn't be so bad if it were only one of us that races, but we both do, and sometimes we end up with too many plates spinning on sticks for too long.
In addition to the family/work juggling, I have aging parents. We expect to see my mother moving from San Diego to assisted living in Denver soon, and it's going to take some work to integrate her into our lives, make sure she's comfortable, and so forth. My father has been fighting cancer for a few years, and it has always been touch and go.
We also want to take our kids on road trips during the summer. They are pretty good about our racing and training every summer for the last few years, but they are at an age where they can now tolerate road trips, but are not yet jaded teenagers. I, for one, have never seen Mount Rushmore, and I intend to make that happen. My job gives limited vacation time, and for once, I want to use it for something less selfish than racing. Well, for next year, at least.
This does not mean that we won't be training on our bikes. No, no, no. We both fully intend to return to racing in 2012, and at my advanced age, I cannot let myself get too far out of shape because it takes a distressing amount of time to get back on my game. I have worked too hard over the last several years to do anything rash like becoming a couch potato.
Sure, we will miss racing, but we are trying to set ourselves up for success in the long term. The luxury of Masters racing is that there will always be another year.
