TOOBRRRR

A lesson I simply fail to learn.

Staying in the back is not a good position in a race when you do not have fitness to match any accelerations needed to bridge and jump across bad wheels. Truth be told, I was second to last Cat 5 racer to get his bib number/chip so had to squeeze myself in at the back as the directions were being read (well I gotta have an excuse, the list is getting shorter and I was left to blaming quality of air in Oak Brook)...but still. I lasted 3 laps out of 6 with the pack and when that moment of weakness came, there was noone behind me (by that point the other dozen or so riders who started got dropped). The guy in front of me started jerking his bike around as we rode up the incline and coming down on the descent, when the gap was forming, I seriously thought he was gonna pass out and crash. I was too afraid to jump around him with open traffic in the other lane. I also made some bad nutritional choices - just too many energy food flavors (berry pomegranate vitamin drink on the drive up, odwalla bar, mocha clifshot, lemon lime gatorade in a race bottle) in a stomach that was cramping up and I almost puked. I am still washing away the taste in my mouth as I am writing this, yuck.
The gap was there and that was that. Due to a short course, many overlapping fields and registration problems (chips and all) that delayed and shortened the race, I was asked to hang it up by the official on the motorbike. The pack was no more than 50 m ahead of me but at that point I was gonna take myself out.
I clocked the max speed of 57.4 km/hr (35 something mph), on the 31st St. straightaway, in an attempt to move up a few positions. With that wind, I wanna see what the final sprints looked like for the higher categories.
And so the season pretty much ended. I have undeperformed but at least I raced enough to identify my mistakes and realize that I need to find and follow a training program and learn more about my body and its limits. I am not a high school athlete stressing over his results and performances, but with all the monies going into this I might as well go the extra mile. My HRM is still in the box never been used, so this winter it's time to get hooked up. I plan to learn how to fix/maintain bikes over the winter so I can be self sufficient for repairs and adjustments. Other than than, it's almost fall time, I have 5 days off in a row this week so I think I am going to get out of town and hit the beach to show off my tan lines.

Oh, judging by the Beckham's football kick and that horrible rendition of "Whole Lotta Love" during the closing ceremony, the English better start working on those opening ceremonies right now, because that just sucked.