Road Bike Racing - question directed to long time racers about good and bad sesaons.

3 rd season racing and I am finding it difficult this season to get the hours in per week at least 15 like i normally do instaed i am lucky to get in 4 . So what do you do? just drop off the radar . Then when i am back to being able to train like i need, then return back to the race scene. i just dont wanna disappear from my peers or feel like i am gvivng up. But i cant keep getting dropped on rides and finishing poorly at races it takes away from all i have worked hard to be.

do what you can with what you have. focus on quality workouts over quantity. what's keeping you from putting more hours? kids? job? is there any way you can work around whatever is keeping you busy? just asking, because if you really want to put in the hours, you should be able to find them.

Your "season" sounds familiar to me, but it's only April. A few things:
1. 15 hours is a LOT. I can't train that much without burning out completely.
2. 4 hours is still a decent amount of time. Are you doing 4 hours in one day or 6 days of 40 minutes each? If it's the latter, you'll be fine. Focus on intense days at least 3-4 days a week.
3. No matter what other people tell you, sometimes life does take it's toll on cycling. You can take back some of it, but it's very hard on you and your family/friends. So although I've done rides from 2-4 AM in order to get around work, I know you can't do this week after week. But one or two rides a quarter like that can actually help save that same quarter. You also need to rest and recover, not just from cycling, but from life. An 18 hour workday doesn't mean you have 6 hours to train.
4. There's always next year. I told myself that for five years.

good luck,
cdr

I have it on good authority from the one of the winningest racers in america that you only need 8 hrs maximum of quality training to compete successfully at a the local masters level.

Make every hour count.