2011 Husky XC150, bike #204. The bike is spread out all over the garage floor right now, of course...
I'm fitter than I've been in years - which is not to say that I am particularly fit, just better than I have been. Riding the pushy at lunch time, eating better, drinking a lot less, etc.
A few weeks back I was diagnosed with Gilbert's Syndrome - a supposedly inconsequential genetic disorder that 5~10% of the population have. The official story is that it means nothing, however there's a ton of commonly associated side-effects - some of which I suffer from.
In an ironic twist, discovering that I've got this thing has actually allowed me to understand WTF has been happening, and I've already worked out ways to minimise it. This has been a big help.
Raced the Nowra 8-hour Pony Express last weekend. It was a tough, unrelenting bastard of an event. I rode conservatively to avoid damaging myself*, but I think I was the only person disappointed to miss out on doing another lap, and was functioning perfectly at the end of the day and on Monday, so I'm taking it as a positive.
My biggest worry now, is my usual problem of riding too slowly on trail sections and using up too much late time. For a number of reasons, I'm always very reluctant to push on trail sections, and simply lack the talent to just cruise along...
We'll see what happens from here.
*One of the local fast guys smashed crap out of a finger a couple of weeks ago. Missed the 8-hour and the 4-day because of it.