February 22, 2010
My head is interminably bombarded by the musical stylings of Ke$ha.
See, I spent the day putting together the latest race video in which I foolishly decided to use a catchy, chart-topping hip-pop soundtrack as an inside joke for the unfortunate passengers of my top-forty-blaring Dodge van. I don’t know if I will ever regain my sanity.
In other news, I raced my bike again this weekend and even managed to finish all three races without a single incident or trip to the emergency room. I spent several hours last week preparing my bike to make sure I wouldn’t have another mechanical. So much time, in fact, that I forgot to actually ride my bike until the day before the race – at least I looked good.
The weather in Winston-Salem was beautiful, and Wake Forest hosted a laudable weekend of racing. Saturday kicked off with a short, intense, and painful 3.75 kilometer time trial. I finished mid-pack, more than a minute behind the winner.
The road race was sketchy. With over sixty starters, every turn was an adventure. It was nearly impossible to move up in the field, which in turn produced a lot of yelling. Nineteen riders DNF’d from the three lap sketch-fest. At some point during the second lap, I watched the field ride away from me on a climb. Soon after, it became painfully obvious that I had bonked: the cyclist’s equivalent of “hitting the wall.” I chased for the rest of the lap, but eventually caved and resorted to merely finishing.
Sunday morning’s criterium saw a field of “only” forty riders on a flat course with two sharp turns. The pace was consistently fast, and every corner was followed by a brutal acceleration. I never really attempted to make a move; I was content riding near the back and avoiding the inevitable crash. I did just that and finished almost exactly mid-pack, despite not knowing it was the last lap. Great.
I have some work to do before I can be competitive this season, but at this point last year I had neither a working bike nor a working rider. I won’t be racing next weekend at Navy, opting instead for the luxuries of home cooked meals, full-service laundry and Southern sunshine.
Tune in tomorrow (Tuesday) for the latest super sweet video gnar…
Thanks to Justin Crawford for these pictures:
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