I wanted to be a 3 by the end of the season. This turned out to be a little unrealistic considering:
Sucky Sprinter,
Got married in the middle of the season, spent 1 month off the bike, and another getting back into shape.
Moved to Denver from SanFran in the end-ish of the season, spent another month making red blood cells.
I won 2, got a few top 10's, learned that I'm a decent hillclimber, and have the potential to be a decent TTer too. Learned that I don't like criteriums, learned that wet sand is REALLY slick, headwinds in a race are my friend, I like descending, and i'm pretty decent at it too. I learned about training with power, and I (finally) learned to let the numbers go in the important races. I learned a lot of good and bad things about teamwork, I learned that neutral water is absolutely my friend. It's not about the bike, but I still "need" a new one. i learned that eating right can really help both on and off the bike. I learned to let other people do some work, but I'm still working on that. I learned that holding back on day 1's race only to get a flat in day 2's race really sucks. Never hold back ( for me at least). I learned that spinning is NOT the answer to being a faster bicyclist ( i don't know why everybody loves it so much honestly). I learned that caffeine is a diuretic (that one sucked), and even though it's not about the bike, I love my bike.
I still need to learn how to read a pack sprint, pin on a number so that it won't flap, and convince the wife that weekend long races are a good thing for our relationship. That'll be for next year. That and finally getting up to the 3's (or 2's, that's cool too).
good thread topic. I'm not sure anybody else wanted me to ramble, but it's nice to reflect.