Pay to play...

I lined up on Saturday and Sunday last weekend and managed to hit the ground twice...One because I'm a knucklehead and I like to show off a bit (this one was the least painful of the two!!!), and the other was on Sunday in an expert MTB race. I was lucky enough...or unlucky I should say, to wad it up on the most technical section of the track. This happened so fast I didn't even have time to put my hand out to try and catch myself!!

What I did was an endo at speed and stop myself with my cheekbone...I was 3rd and having a great race up until this point...I got up, out of the way and watched all of the work that I had just put in go by. I tried to get going again, but sometimes when you bail really hard, the flow you once had is gone and never to return until the next race...which is what happened to me!!! I realized this and rode the next 2 miles out of the woods like I was out on a fun ride...NICE AND SLOW!!!

Fast forward a week...I was planning on doing another cross on the 27th, but hammering myself into the rocks on last Sunday put an end to that, due to a vertebrae in my back between my shoulders that's out of place, making it painful to breath really deep!!! I see a chiropractor in my future because this SUCKS!!!

The title of this post is "Pay to Play"...This means if you play hard enough long enough, you will be asked to pay...Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot...

With any sport, this is the case...I have been pretty fortunate and not had to pay very much in the 14 years I have been riding and racing!! But when I have to it just SUCKS!!! I also know that it's part of racing, and move on eventually!!

Pay to play...if you didn't know about this...you do now!!! Welcome to racing!!!

Cross rewind!!!

So the first cross race of the season has come and gone, my 2nd CX race ever by the way!! I'll just say that it ended up waaaaaaay better than I had expected!!

So I get to the venue with a little over an hour to spare, plenty of time to get signed up and ready to race...I grab my license and my race pen, look at my bike and think for a second I should ride to the registration...NAH!!! Can't be that far, so off I go striding along. I wear my running shoes on the way to races for the very reason I'm about to tell...

I'm walking along for about 4 or 5 minutes and start thinking where is registration??? I ask a volunteer and he says keep going the same direction...off I go. A few more minutes of walking and I'm like WTF!!! Here's where the running shoes come into play!!! I start running, and after about 4 minutes of running, not jogging, I finally arrive at registration...at least a mile from where I parked!!! Damn!!! I knew I shoulda rode my bike!!! It's too far to just walk back, so being the whacked ball of race nerves that I am...I run...not jog RUN!! I haven't run that far since high school!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again...Why walk when you can ride!!! I hate running!!!

On to the race!!! I finally get on my bike and start warming up, there is a race in progress so I just ride around on the road doing wheelies...I love doing wheelies, don't get to do them on the road bike. Anyhoo, the race is over and the course is open for inspection...So I jump on it and speed up a little testing the traction in the turns, and just looking at the course all the while still doing wheelies!!

As I'm riding around the course, I come to the first set of barriers. You make a left turn onto this straight that is slightly canted downhill and about 75 yards from the turn are the barriers where low and behold...there's a photographer...So I yank the front wheel up and ride it until I had to set it down to dismount and run the barriers!!! The photog says I wasn't ready...do that in the race...I said HELL YEAH I'LL DO IT IN THE RACE!!!

So the inspection is over and they call us to the line...I farted around to long getting to the line so I was in the middle of the pack...SUCK!!!

They started us a little ways down this hill to try and string it out before the first turn. GO!!! We're off, I stab the pedal on the first try!! Grab a gear and start moving forward, grab another gear and start passing more and more...I'm thinking why the hell are you sissies going so slow!!! We hit the grass and I'm about 7th into the first turn.

At this point I'm on a mission and the MAD NINJA MTB SKEELZ kick in!! I made some of the sweetest and cleanest passes in the tightest spots EVER!! That just fueled the fire!!! We roll into a left hand hairpin and the guy in front of me is going slower than I want to be, so I start a pass around the outside and as I pull along side of this guy he starts to drift to my line, and I say to him "YOU BETTER TURN THAT BITCH"!!! As I say this I stick my left elbow out to ride wide and protect my line, and as soon as my elbow touches him he goes down!! I grab a gear and hammer away!!! It was a clean tactic!!!

Fast forward...still on lap 1. I think I'm sitting about 5th with a gap of about 5 seconds to 3rd and 4th as we roll onto the long pavement section. I jam the Truth into the big ring and start hammering, I close the gap quickly. I sit there for a few seconds and punch it again and go blasting by to the next grass section on the wheel of 2nd. He fumbles in a turn, I rail underneath him and set the sites on 1st, who wasn't but a few seconds ahead.

I get to his wheel and pressure him into a mistake and make the pass for 1st!!! So now I'm in first, we cross the road and make the left turn and head toward the barriers with the photographer...I see him so I grab a gear and yank the wheel up...the first attempt sucked!! So going faster now, I yank the wheel up and ride it baby!!! I set it down, look up, and realize that I'm waaaaay to close to the barriers and going waaaaay to fast!!! I grab as much brake as I can, start my dismount...At this point I'm doing a full on brake slide, totally sideways, standing on the left side of my bike on one pedal!!! IT WAS FREAKIN SWEEEEEEET!!!

I unclip, take a step and yank the bike up by the handle bar, (I didn't have time to grab the top tube because I was going to fast and too close), I make it over the first barrier, and in between I lose grip of the right side, so now the bike is in the air, I'm running with it with my left hand still attached between the barriers. The rear wheel hits the second barrier the same time as I jump it, the bike and myself flip to the ground...

As I scramble to my feet I get passed and drop back to 3rd...At this point I panicked...a lot...and start hammering again while trying to puke my guts out!!! It SUCKED!! I get back to 2nd's wheel and start pushing him again, he asks if I want by, I say no you're fine(I'm still trying to puke at this point). So I finally recover about the time we hit the pavement again, and proceed to ride him off of my wheel.

The next couple of laps I sat in no man's land slowly gaining time on 1st. On the last lap I put it on kill and got within 20 feet of him on the last climb to the finish line...I couldn't close it and he couldn't make it bigger...

I sat out to do this race for fun, which I did!!! As I think about the wheelie incident I laugh every time!!! Go big or don't go!!!! I'm sure the next one I do will not be so easy, because they know now!!! Insert evil tee hee here!!!! It makes me giddy!!!!

Cyclocross

It's Saturday morning and I'm waiting on my coffee, so I thought I would throw a few words down...I have about 4 hours to get my bike and all of my stuff together for this race today!! I was less than motivated last night due to sushi and beer on Thursday night, staying out too late and getting up waaaaaay to early!! Ding!! Coffee is done!!!

MMMmmmm CAFFEINE!!! Anyway, today is the first cross race I plan on doing, last week was a good taper week, one less day of riding than I would have liked but oh well...I'll be fine!! The race starts at 12:15 I think...I should probably look into that!! Should be fun!!!

Race report later!!!