The January plan unfolds

So somehow I'm actually taking this seriously, and making steps toward making it happen. I confirmed with my housing in Tucson that I could show up a month later and still have a spot. I talked to Coach Verheul to confirm that I could still get the training for the road season done without a major cost to my spring. And I talked to all my housing options in the Southeast to make sure I had places to land, from Gainseville to Athens to Winston-Salem. I keep trying to find reasons NOT to do this, because I don't like change and my winter training in Tucson last season was impeccable. But it keeps looking like an awesome idea.

Here's what I'm looking at:

And now here's the debate:

That first weekend in Florida looks like a lot of fun. There's a TT, grass crit, and a regular 'cross race. There's some funky stuff in there (like the 'cross race is 60 minutes + 1 lap, rather than just 60 minutes, and I can't figure out if it's $500/day or $500 overall), but all I see is a good time, and the chance to help them work out those kinks. If I leave here early the week of January 5th, I should have no problem getting down there in time. But of course that's the hitch. If I wanted an easier first week, I could just drive to Winston and do the first Winter Cup instead. Same deal with the Winter Cup, though. No prize money is posted yet, and no real details on the race. I can count on the Winter Cups for being well-run events, since Tim Hopkins and his crew are very experienced at this point.

The next weekend there's only one Winter Cup race in NC, so I see my two choices as staying in Florida and doing the next weekend down there, or heading back up to TN. I want to do at least one race in each region and north and south Florida really do count as different regions. It would also be good to stay in Florida where the weather's warmer for the week in between. The trade off here is that all the races seem somewhat low-key based on the flyers. I have no idea about the quality of either event, and which ones would be worth going to.

The last two weekends are pretty straightforward, and I'm definitely doing Raleigh, Greensboro, and Johnson City, and staying in Winston-Salem in between. I'd be really psyched to stay in Athens the week before, and get a little more work done on my sleeve with Mike Groves and Pain and Wonder.

If you're a race organizer on this list and you follow my blog or Twitter or Facebook, let's talk! Let me know what's good about your race, and what we can do to make this happen. Let's make a production out of it, and make it a big deal for everyone. Part of my motivation for doing this is to promote January 'cross races in the US, let the world know about your events, and put my money where my mouth is by supporting them.

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