I have coined a new phrase! I think it’s mine at least. Brendan asked me how my legs felt today mid-ride during a Cycling House Camp. Sometimes I respond, “great,” other times it’s “garbage.” Today it was “dirty.” My legs feel “dirty.” They don’t feel great, they don’t feel terrible, they just feel like I have been training lots. Racing last weekend didn’t give me “clean” legs by any means.

I knocked off the first race of the season with my buddies Brendan and Linsey. We traveled from The Cycling House up to Phoenix after a big week of training to race the Desert Classic Duathlon. It was a race for the books as it was raining buckets and the run takes place on some single track on the desert floor. Lots of rain + desert singletrack = mud fest. We struggled to keep warm before the race, during the race, and after the race. After all was run, rode, and run I ended up 13th in a star-studded women’s field. After awards, so Ben Hoffman and Brendan could pick up their 2nd and 6th place paychecks, we jetted to coffee for someone in the group’s “favorite part of the day.” First race is done and I will take it!

-Jen