New faces, new challenges

There will be no rematch with the King and Queen of Pain this year. Rebecca is racing on a four woman team with three lucky high school racers and I don't know if Nat is racing. Both Nick and I are kinda bummed - we were honestly hoping for another chance to test ourselves against them. Last year was close, with racing until the very end among the top three CoEd Duo teams. We wanted to see if we could bring it even closer and push the pace even more. Alas, not to be. But that doesn't mean there won't be other fast duos lining up. There always are - 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo is always the most competitive event for the CoEd Duos. I'm eager to find out who will be toeing to line. We won't know who we will be racing until after the race starts since Epic Ride doesn't publicize a team list. I've always liked that - it keeps everyone in the dark. People who are going to race will sign up regardless since there's no way of knowing the competition. Training has to be done with the purpose of getting faster and stronger, not to beat another team. The unknown eliminates getting cocky as well. Since we don't know who we're racing, there's no chance to do research, to scope out the rest of the field. It boils down to training hard over the winter and showing up with a plan. The team that trained the smartest and executes their plan the best usually prevails. All the training is done and we have a plan. Will this be our year? We will find what the trail gods decree and what the final outcome is Sunday at noon.