This is Me

getting ready to suck.


I am off and wondering what the heck I was thinking on this drizzly, cold morning.


If you can't tell from my comments above, I just wasn't into it today for whatever reason. You can actually see it on my face. I didn't mean for it to be that way and in fact I am not sure I have EVER been that way EVER. Maybe it was getting back on the the road bike for the first time since the crash that I couldn't avoid at the Tour of the Gila. Or maybe it was that along with the fact that my thumb is still broken from it. Don't know but I do know all that is not a super great combo for me right now.

I had so many weird things going on in my mind during the Hill Climb TT today. It started with seeing that starting block deal. I have never started on something like that on a road bike. MTB yes but road bike, no. Then the dude holding me up right....or not so much really. He was leaning me sideways and I felt like I was going to tip and fall off the deal while I was waiting for my "go" time. I felt like I didn't even know how the heck to proceed and yet the 40 minute Time Trial was just starting. I was just plain outta whack.

I have never been in a road time trial so I didn't have aero bars or any crazy cool looking helmet and I really didn't know what to do except go hard. I was so clueless with this event that even when I saw Katie C. before the race doing a hard effort in the drops and thought hmmmm that is a good idea - I need to probably race down there. So I did. Then during the TT I stayed on the white line because I read some where that is faster but the point is that my mind was all over the place at any given moment and I was just plain "wack a doo" today - out of my element for some reason and not with it at all. But at least I passed a couple of my 30 second gals but then got passed myself which is such a no no!

Oh well. I did all that I possibly could and still just felt absolutely positively fried before, during and after the race. Not a lovely feeling at all. I never really woke up - ever. It was strange but I have to give myself a break too because this has been my first race weekend for 5 weeks while everyone else has been going at it weekend after weekend. That changes things a bit as I got some "rest" in (when I didn't want it) in the last weeks but I expect that I will be right back into things soon. And at least I was mixing it up at the front of the group in Saturday's MTB race before I got the flat. That is a good thing especially given the lack of racing while I had my cast on. So I know what I can do and I will do it next time!

I definitely was not sharp out there yesterday or today though but this race weekends racing was about shaking my body into action which I did literally I think on the mtb course. I did have lots of moran moves during the mtb race yesterday including dropping several GU2O packets on the ground to whoops-eee- daisy......heading into the dh with my front suspension locked out. Nice hugh? And to correct that latter mistake I had to hold on for dear life with the left hand while pounding down rocks and roots while reaching over with my right hand to unlock it (normally you use the left hand to do this but my thumb is not happy to oblige yet). Goodness, if that wasn't unsafe or what!? But I managed. Then add drinking my sports drink and immediately gasping for air as if I only had one little pin prick of an opening in my airway. Man, I can understand what those folks go through who come up from sea level to race at altitude now. Wow. That was hard! After being at sea level for over a month and getting back to altitude for 2.5 weeks I was somewhat acclimated to Hebers altitude of 5600 feet but 8900 was a bit much at this point. Oh and lets not forget that I completely forgot about my rear suspension during the mtb race too. I have no idea if it was locked out the entire time or not. Rooky move!!!

Oh well. Overall I accomplished what I needed to and that is what is important along with the fact that my broken thumb did quite well handling all the pounding this weekend. That made me quite happy.

Afterward the Hill Climb race today we could be seen doing this at several hotels in Vail after a bit of a mix up.

We finally got settled for the evening in Vail after packing and loading our stuff 3 separate times. Then it was out with the Teva boys and girls who were celebrating a job well done and a long week of festivities coming to a close.