Well today the cycling gods did not have me in their favor. I shouldn't have raced today and all week I had switched back and forth about going or not. I had two hard efforts in my legs right before the race and had to work the day before so I never got a chance to recover.I don't regret going to the race today, and I'm not mad or let down. I'm neutral over the whole affair. I know bad days will happen and the hands of god will dictate when a part will decide to go, and when planning my race schedule I added extra races for days like these. Truthfully, I've been somewhat lucky, two of the first three races were done in extreme conditions with lots of mud. Everything worked perfectly and I got two wins in bad conditions.
But what can I say, today was not to be. Off the line I slotted into second position. I had burned a few matches and I was happy to sit there until I got my second wind. About 4 guys slotted in behind me. One rider said after the race that he had done so to pace himself as he figured I would have been near the front. I only got two miles in and my head was clogged, I felt like I was about to puke. I guess I have a slight cold which was made worse by my hard effort so I let the four riders go by, no reason to kill myself. I knew I was working hard because my heart rate was pegged close to 190. I settled down to a decent pace and tried to not lose any more places. My legs felt fine but my body had no energy to give. Because I was not feeling good it was hard to stay focused and I made some stupid mistakes and have a couple scrapes to show for it.
I was soon swallowed up by the expert class riders, and shortly after by the sport riders. My friend John Proppe came through and we chatted for a brief second as I explained how my body was rebelling against me. Right after John came my teammate Mike and finally Rusty. Both were pushing hard and looking good.
Right after they went by, and around halfway my derailleur hanger got bent, sucking my derailleur towards my spokes. The deraileur looked fine but I will be getting a new one later this week. I knew it was to far to bend back so I took it off and tried to make it a single speed, wrapping the now defunct cable around my top tube. This is easier said then done when you mind is cloudy and you are on an adrenaline rush. I thought it got it onto a reasonable gear setting to make it back but I was soon proved wrong as a pin in my chain gave. Went down to a smaller cog in the back and redid it and I was off again. Low and behold the chain broke again. I had used my two connector pins I had with me and by this time the chain had grown so small that going single speed again wouldn't work. I had no choice but to push my bike the last 2 miles of the course. I finished the race nonetheless feet before another novice rider who had also come to the same fate. After the race I went straight to the car and sat down, John was kind enough to bring over some pasta and I sat there for a good bit getting my wits about me.
I want to thank Bike Authority, Kenda, Crank Brothers and Rudy Project for their support. All of their products performed flawlessly. Finally, a thanks to my teammates who gave kind words and helped me out today.
No comments:
Post a Comment