If I could make a list of all the things you shouldn’t do before a race, it might look something like this:
- Get drunk at a wedding the night before, standing around in really uncomfortable shoes that hurt your back.
- Only get three hours of sleep.
- Wake-up at quarter to 4am to spend all morning on a plane with a woman who had some sort of plague that required paramedics to take her off at the destination.
- Rush home to load the car and drive an hour to the race.
- Have a warm-up that consists of riding around the course and watching races.
- Get lined up at the back of the pack.
(Cue mellowdramatic music)
That is EXACTLY what my pre-race looked like. I know, I know, poor me, eh? Even more amazing was that I had a solid race. Steadily moving up to finish 18th. The race was hard, really hard. And I really have to thank Ian Leitheiser for working with me and keeping me motivated to keep moving up. It was a good time considering all the suffering. I was pretty amazed I finished so well as I don’t remember passing half those people. It was really dusty out there so my vision was like looking through Vaseline smeared glasses. In hindsight the race is literally just a big blur to me.
I was so exhausted after the race, I went to bed at 9pm and slept like a rock, except for when I was woken up by Margi trying to push me off the bed because she was dreaming that I was our dog Quinn trying to climb on the bed! Hilarious.
The best part of finishing 18th is that it gives me one point in the Crusade series, and I believe when they do call-ups they call-up everyone who has any points. However, even if I get bumped in the final results, being the “beer number*” this week means I will get to line-up right behind all the riders who get a call-up. We’ll see if I can turn it into something good.
And if anyone is wondering, the Paul’s chain watcher really works, neither me nor Margi had any dropped chains yesterday. (knock on wood) And Margi had an awesome race, finishing 2nd in the Women B's. She sure does love hills.
Looks like we may see some real ‘cross next week too, the 7 day forecast is for rain and showers nearly every day. Though I will believe it when I see it.
*beer number: every week, staging for racers with no series points is done by a random order of numbers 0-9, where riders are called to the line in that order based on the last digit of their race number. The last number is the “beer number”, entitling all such riders to a six-pack of beer from series sponsor Deschutes. And the following week that number is automatically called first. This week that last number was 4, my race number is 44, so I get a sixer of Deschutes.
