My wife and I made the trip over to The tinny town of Roslyn Washington to break my racing dry spell. Traveling to a race the night before and camping always seems to negatively effect my performance as the stress and exertion of camping and traveling tends to wear me down. My legs were still tired after 2 rest days in a row but I was there and it was time to race!
The beginning of the very steep start climb ( this was my second lap).
I had a few mechanical issues and did not feel great. I was racing as an intermediate and on a good day I should be in the higher category but on a bad day like today, I'm a mid pack finisher. 1200 feet of elevation per lap would have been nice for me had I felt my best. I had a good lead at the top of the climb at the start but my legs would not last. My consistent calorie defincite lately seems to be taking its toll on my body and my bottom bracket failed during the race as well. By the end, the bearings were nearly frozen and my new rear break rotor was rubbing quite a lot. My fork was too soft and my bar ends came loose forcing me to stop for a 60 second trail side repair. I should have done an equipment shake down ride last week.
Headed toward the finish line.
Despite everything, I didn't want to bail on the second lap. I pushed the envelope a bit too much on the second lap decent and was cramping up a bit. I overshot a corner and had an collision with a large cunck of wood. Oops.
With everything that went wrong and how bad I was feeling I was happy with my results, 4th in my bracket and 10th overall for cat 2.
In the end, I was glad to have made it out to a race and although I didn't make the podium this time around, I re- learned some lessons. It's always better to sleep at home on race day. Always ride the bike a few days before a race to verify your setup. Sealed bearing cartridges need to be packed with greases at least every few years. Keep your training rides chill on race week. If your loosing weight, day after day, eat more food!
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