Sunday, April 24, 2011

Bad Luck

4.16.11 Hillsboro-Roubaix
Cat. 3 / 57th

The above photo actually tells the story of this race - I am on the left side of the picture pulling off to the side of the road with a flat tire with about 10 miles to go. So disappointing. Thankfully I was able to get a spare wheel from one of the follow vehicles and at least finish the race, but not the outcome I was hoping for. I guess we'll chalk this one up as a "training" race. Let's hope there aren't many more of those this year.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Doh!

3.26.11 Burnham Spring Super Crit
Cat. 3 / 20th ; Cat. 1,2,3 / 17th


If I had a nickel for every time I did something stupid in a bike race, racing would be a lot more lucrative for me. I watched the breakaway slowly develop off the front of the pack, casually and confidently predicting it wouldn't stick. It did stick, of course, and by the time I woke up and started chasing it was too little, too late. I chased in vain for several minutes, stuck in no-man's land, briefly unwilling to acknowledge the obvious - the race was gone. I sprinted hard for a prime to salvage what I could from the race - but lost that too. A disappointing day to be sure, but it reminded me again of what's great about racing: it's unpredictable and it's really hard.