Down an Out……

This weekend was the end of the Road season and to be my last chance for a win, but it was not to be it seems everything was working against me. Was it the bike? No. Was it my fitness? No. What was it? Timing and a Cold. Yes a summer cold whacked me out some, But, that wasn't my biggest bummer. I wasn’t going to let a cold get in the way of racing even though Sat. I was blowing snot balls that looked like Stam’s “No-Tubes” my legs felt good and I was pre-reg’d. Made backing out out of the question. My biggest problem was not getting to the line on time. Yes, I missed my start time by 3 min. s. Thinking the gun was at 9:55am when it was really 9:50am. But not being one to give up easy I went off late giving chase. Knowing it was a long race (85 miles with 8700’ climbing) and the pace would be slow for the first half b/c it was a solid climb for first 25miles. The head went down and I punched it holding 95% of MHR until I tagged the lead group an hour later. Blown a snot ball about every 50 pedal stokes. The whole time chasing I was thinking once in the group I can recover, relax and suck wheel until the end. I underestimated how bad the cold would suck the life out of me. Once in the group the suffering just got worst. I couldn’t relax or recover and yo-yoing off the back just sucked. The reality of not being a force and a couple more hours of suffering didn’t seem worth it. So at the top of the second climb I packed it in and head back to the car. Thinking I would feel better for the Crit for the next day.
About half way back to the car I spied the women’s field coming up the opening climb with Sandy leading the charge. Which was good to see, apparently she pulled the opening 18miles and then was attacked by to girls who got away near the top of the first climb. She was able to bridge up to them at the base of the second climb. The three then stayed away to the finish and Sandy was able to pull out the win with a little brew-ha-ha at the end. One of the girls broke with a group of passing Master racer and drafted them to the finish. After a protest she was disqualified.
Sunday wasn’t much better for me so I bagged the racing and just ran support for Sandy and again she was able to pull out a nice finish the Women’s open class. She out sprinted most of the Cat 3s and even a couple of Pro for a 5th place in a field that include two past national champions. Not a bad way for her to finish the season. I think she missed her calling as the officials may force her to upgrade to a Cat 2 after Sunday beating received by the local hot shots…….Now if I could get only get going. But I’m glad the seasons over as I’m a little burned out.