I’m not psyched out; you’re psyched out!

It was a sports night last night, and the IUSTV crew brought us plenty of it on Sports Nite:

The Toss Up, which I referred to yesterday, is all about that bump, set and spike:

Volleyball is a terrific sport. It’s easy to follow, the flow of the game provides nice action, the players are accessible in camera shots and it’s a sport that has repackaged itself as a perfect capsule for TV programming. (Though I do think the TV productions should be re-constructed.) It should be hugely popular. I like to ask why it isn’t and how you get it there, and I asked the two beat writers in this program, one from the paper and one from the TV station, why they thought it was. They’ve both had classes with The Yankee, so they both answered correctly. It comes down, they said, to telling stories.

There are sixteen players on that team, and there are at least 16 great and compelling stories there, before you even look over the coaches biographies.

Most sports should feel this way. You just need the right people in the right places and right times to make it happen.

This weekend I am making it happen, if I can avoid psyching myself out. The backstory is that I got an email from Zwift about an upcoming series of rides. I mentioned it to a friend of ours and she said I should do the series.

And here’s the thing about things that are seven or eight weeks in the future: they all seem easy.

Along the way to what is, in truth, a fairly ambitious ride series, there were a bunch of workouts. I did one of each. They were fun. One of them was demanding. I’m not sure if they’ll be helpful this weekend, which started this evening.

This was the first of three stages. The whole adventure will wind up Sunday — and thus will be the pre-occupation of the entire weekend.

And, thus, the Haute Route begins, and before it’s done I’ll have tapped out 90-something miles and 12,000-plus feet of climbing. The mileage won’t be bad, but the climbs will be what add up.

Tonight I had 2,949 feet to climb in the smart trainer. This was the easiest stage in terms of the elevation gained. Tomorrow will probably be fine. The plan is just to survive and feel good about myself after Sunday’s ride.

Wish me luck.

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