My mojo is gone.

I found out tonight just how badly 3 solid months off the bike wrecks your race fitness. Yikes. And that month-long bout with walking pneumonia certainly hasn't helped my cardio at all, that's for sure.

I lined up with the Masters field at PR tonight and as soon as we took off I was thinking, "Whoah. Can we go a bit slower?" I think I was Zone 4 in no time. I'm not supposed to be close to Zone 5 for a few weeks, so when one of my teammates had a wicked front wheel shimmy going down the escape route, I took it as an opportunity to make sure he was ok and soft pedal a lap.

I caught back on to the Masters field for another lap and then got promptly shelled on the climb. This was a bit of a surprise, though I guess it shouldn't have been. I've always been a strong climber, and usually I pass guys on this climb, but not tonight. Every time I was off the back, pulling bricks, bitching and yelling swear words all the way to the top. I had to be entertaining the spectators for sure.

I rode with a HUGE Cat 4/5 men's field for a lap or two, then called it a night. Deanna said they turned out just under 180 people tonight, which is crazy. The Cat 4/5 field alone was near 90. Even with all of those bodies to draft behind, I still couldn't hang. I guess I'm not surprised given my lack of training, but somehow I thought 3 months off the bike would translate to amazing fitness.

The next two months will be brutal. I definitely have my work cut out for me. Not only do I need to get back into race shape, but I have to deal with getting pummeled out there for a while. Burning myself out so badly that I need 3-4 months off the bike is not a good strategy, so I'll definitely be keeping close track of things this year.