Two Wheel Blogs

....I'm done. At least for this week's race, I'm done. I need to heal the ribs and not abuse them like I did in yesterday's race. Unwisely, I decided to heed the advice of my friends and teammates to "harden up" and entered (and finished) the B race yesterday. In hindsight, not the smartest decision for me. The course at Faust Park was very soft (not muddy, rather spongy) and not very technical at all. The course also included a lot of climbing, which for someone with damaged ribs that's a recipe for a lot of pain.

On the issue of damaged ribs. In my innocent gravel road crash from Wednesday night (wheel washed into a deep rut) I guess the left side of my ribs (area directly around my heart) took a pretty good shot which resulted in stabbing pains when I do anything but stand straight.

I started well and did okay for the first few laps running in the top 12, but the pain (beyond normal cx race pain) just kept building. The ruts on the course were like repeated jabs to my heart and all of the climbs just tore at my upper chest. Jennifer and Collin were there and I kept telling myself I wasn't going to quit regardless of who passed me. I tried to race as many people as I could and actually had some success until late in the race when Daniel Miller came flying around to put me one lap down. I was actually a little happy that happened because it shortened my misery. In the end, I may have finished somewhere in the high 20's, but was just glad to have finished as I hate to DNF.

Overall, not my best effort but under the conditions it was something to throw into the bank and build on later in the season. I hate quitting races more than I hate not starting a race, so I consider yesterday a goal accomplished.

Another time.