Instead of spending most of the week playing bikes, I've been futzing with things like this:
Ahh, Don Cherry.
The day prior I went to Otis again with Colin and Kevin. Much like when you stuff a bunch of angry cats in a burlap sack, we mercilessly scratched and bit each other (in the riding bikes sense, of course). I still had some legs, but they were not going too fast by the end of the ride.
When I get tired on a MTB, I get crashy. Artists rendering may differ from actual events.
The next day I felt surprisingly okay, despite the pre-race meal I ate.
GO AWAY DOCTORS, BEGONE.
Ride Studio Cafe brought the absolutely lovely Sol Pusto Cafe out, providing tasty pour-overs to weary bike racers.
I'm certainly impressed
The team warmed up a bit on the causeway, as I rode towards the race course I felt amazing. After turning around, we struggled into a nice cold wind. This is a good approximation of the course, too.
The race rolled out, and immediately I could see people going off the front. Thanks guys. The first few laps were faster than I expected, I hung out near the back and just tried to stay on a wheel. I started to feel myself slipping away, and realizing that I had taken a nice injury break in the middle of my "base" training, knew that this was going to take some serious racing focus. Putting in some big digs, and cruising along at 25-30 mph, I knew this was a BIKE RACE.
Coming across the start/finish, I saw the strange movements commonly associated with avoiding a non-upright rider, but managed to avoid the confusion and found myself in the front of a slightly smaller group. Cool, things are looking up!
A small break had come back to the group, and the pace slowed a bit. Finally, I get to relax. However, every lap I was noticing my left eye would water up and get blurry, and my contact lens felt odd. A few well placed blinks alleviated the issue. Except for one time when my vision didn't come back.
Now, you might remember a little race in Northampton where something similar occurred. Let's just say I was unsure of myself after that, being sort of blind. I hung in for a few laps but without depth perception had trouble staying near people, and ended up near the back. It was game over time.
I rode back to the car. While chatting at the cafe, I noticed emergency vehicles going toward the race course. Shortly afterward, one of the race promoters wheels a damaged BMC to the tent. Bad news, team mate Alex Dossin crashed hard.
Later, at the Salem Hospital emergency room with RSC Director Sportif Dave Chiu and accompanying band, we found out Alex broke his jaw. Ouch! But he appears to be in good spirits. I'm hoping he has a quick recovery.
Next stop on the bike racing train is Myles Standish, get pumped.
