Alright. Time to regroup here. Saturday at Gloucester was an absolute atrocity. I knew it would be, and I went down there anyway.
I’ve been sick for over half the month of September. I should be resting, but the problem I always have this time of year is that…I don’t. There is so much great stuff happening every week, and I’m too stupid to stay away. What a waste of a month.
Gloucester is particularly frustrating. I haven’t had one big event all year to look forward to. And in the days preceding this, the biggest ‘cross weekend in New England, I’m out of work & riding the couch, enduring a cold made 10 times worse because of the 5k/SBC double I pulled the week before.
I had to at least give it a shot. I was marginally better by Friday, finally had new wheels under me, and figured if Saturday went to shit, I’d bag Sunday anyway. Unfortunately, I got about 20 minutes down the road from my house and knew today was going to suck. I could tell I was still sick. But I was packed up, committed, had a good breakfast, let’s see what happens.
It was all bad. I smashed my nuts on a remount 15 minutes before my start, and that was pretty much how today was going to go. All of the work I put into racing 1/2/3s for better Gloucester staging was pointless, as once we got into areas of the course where actual bike racing could happen, I couldn’t. I had almost no energy. It was actually quite sad. This course was an absolute mess – perfect for someone with more technical ability than power – and I was useless. At times, I’m not sure I’ve ever ridden a bike so slowly in my life. In spite of praying for catastrophe, somehow I finished the race.
Missing out on Mt. Washington has been such a killer. I can see now how much fitness I get from that. Whether it’s the training, or the two trips up the mountain, it’s a huge deposit in the bank that I don’t have this year. A lot of other deposits are missing too – White Mountain rides, Kanc, Prouty. Shit – I haven’t done anything this year. It’s little wonder I can’t race a bike right now, and this is actually a good moment of reflection. There are good reasons for not doing all of that stuff; I should be more mindful of that. Were I at least healthy, I’d have half a chance, but I don’t even get that far.
Somewhere around halfway through the race on Saturday, I pledged to stop racing for the rest of the season. Of course, I also mouthed the words “pull me” to a race official and that didn’t happen either. But I’m dropping out for a while. Maybe I’ll pop my head out at the end of the month or something. But I need to do nothing and get right again. So enjoy the picture, and by the way – that was the end of lap one, and we’re all lucky it wasn’t later, when I was drooling, nose running, picking dirt out of my eye.
Awe man… lets ride Kearsarge again. That was therapeutic for me. Maybe it will be for you too.
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