Upon waking, I searched for my Emergen-C packets, only to realize that I left them in the car. I then realized that there surely should be some Emergen-C in the cupboards of the house, so I set out in search. Anna and Jeff must be doing some product development research for Emergen-C, because I never saw this box in the stores.
The drive down was uneventful, other than the bathroom break where I snuck into the ladies room of the gas station. Sorry ladies, one cup of strong coffee and I was a level-12 emergency 1.5hrs later. At the race, I hopped out, grabbed my bike, and went straight to registration. Into the pre-reg line, I got my number, signed my waiver and forms, and headed back to the car to get ready. Back at the car, I started prepping my bike, and upon grabbing my number, I noticed I got the number '1'. Oh man.....
After some joking around with the crew, I finally got out on the road for my warm-up about one hour from the race start, giving me time for about 40 minutes of spinning and efforts. That all went well, and I felt petty darn good when I toed the line. A front row start was nice, and I was right next to some of the big guns I knew I needed to keep up with. At the start, a rider I didn't know sprinted off and I took his wheel, and draft, while everyone else followed suit. As we started climbing, he started slowing and as people started coming around, I followed and kept up a good pace in the front. As we hit the first section of trail, a doubletrack climb, I got a small branch wedged in my rear brake rotor which forced me to stop, check my wheel, then remount in pursuit. No problems, made it back to the field, but while passing riders I made a huge mistake and took too much speed into a rocky technical section and crashed. My knee and hip took the brunt of it, along with my deraillure hanger. I managed to fix the hanger, but my hip got worse as I rode and eventually abandoned. Boo! I should have been more patient on a long, technical course, but hindsight is 20/20!
So now I'm resting up, the hip is doing OK and I'm making sure to stretch and keep it loose. If I feel recovered, I'll head up to NY for a small local race before going down to North Carolina for round #4 of the US Cup, the Cowbell Summer Solstice. Until then........
The Twins grabbed a huge hoagie for lunch, this thing was massive! I was impressed with the speed in which they consumed said hoagie. Upon arrival at the homestead, I left everything in the car and passed out for the night. In contrast to yesterday, today was very productive. I unpacked, cleaned, organized, celebrated my mom's birthday, and am finishing up my weekend plans for the Hoo-Ha US Cup race in Virginia this weekend. With more rest in my legs I should have a better result than 51st, and the course is harder and more technical than Alabama, so that will be to my advantage. My Wednesday morning mtb ride is being threatened by weather right now, but I may brave it anyhow. 30% chance of showers usually means nothing, but if I have to I'll ride the paths and stay rested as planned. Hopefully Thursday we can still do the plateau! Until next time, keep it kosher....
