Good day

Well, after yesterday, I had a great day today. I woke up, and at the last minute I decided to drive to Coxsackie and race. OF course, I got there and my category was filled up, so the promoter bumped me up into the race with the pros. This was cool, except I had no real idea if I could handle it. But I changed, got my bike set up, and went to the line. We went off, and I was thinking "ok, so I have an extra lap of 6 miles, and we'll be going really fast, and I need to just hang on as long as possible." Which is precisely what I did.

Our first 8 miles went by in about 15 minutes, and I don't recall seeing the slow side of 30mph the entire first lap. Fun but tiring. Well, after an attack stuck, we settled down. The only drama really was when a guy rode into my front wheel and his rear derailleur bent my front wheel. Now I have to replace a spoke, which is aggravating. But my wheel was so wonky that even with the brake open all the way it was rubbing a little bit. After a quick glance I figured it was safe, and rode the last 21 miles like that.

I tried one attack, but quickly gave up that idea. Otherwise I felt good. At one point I wasn't able to close a gap, and a Canadian pro put his hand on my back and shoved me ahead. Merci beaucoup. Finally we were getting ready for the sprint, the dreaded 300 meter slog. I had cleaned my bike so it was working flawlessly, I knew where I wanted to be, but when I looked around I saw I was second to last. Not much I could do about it at that point.

I had the right gear, was out of the wind, and when the sprint started I stayed out of the wind and blew by the back half of the field as it split, and motored through the front half of the field, and I think I got third or fourth in the field sprint. Had I been up in the front 5 guys I'd probably have won it. Again, I'm really happy with how things went. I now know I can hang with the big guns, and even put some digs in on them, too. Great boost for my confidence. Thankfully no racing tomorrow, as I need a day of recovery. Plus I got called into work today. Figured I was going to go by Kingston anyway, so why not.

So why did I race today? Well, I hadn't really made up my mind until I woke up this morning. I felt really good, and feel even better now. I think part of it is also the attitude that I've been sidelined by disease before, and I won't let any illness dictate what I can or can't do. It was a get back up after falling thing. But I know my body well enough to realize I can't do another intense effort like I did today for awhile. I just need to recover from the race and the illness.

Other than that, not much. Just making plans for where I'll be next.