Lost And Found

It took all season to arrive but finally, in the last few weeks I've been able to find some fitness. Some other small changes have helped me race better too, like getting the tire pressure right for starters. And I also changed my pre-race music from Kanye to Nirvana. I'm sure that was a big one. Regardless, it's been nice to be in the race again, fight for wheels, hold position, make strong passes, and ride with the groups and guys I feel like I should be with. That doesn't mean perfect races and podiums, and it'll be a long time before I see a podium, so being competitive in the race within the race is what makes it fun. The irony is that the race I re-discovered my fitness is one I almost didn't race. It's a tough course with a power section of uphill grass and a ton of steps. I remembered feeling awful on the same course last year and had a bad attitude going in. But when I was going, I caught myself catching people and riding strong which was only fuel to keep going. To be fair, I lost a sprint against a guy I'd been battling with and I had some good dry heaves afterwards because of the effort, but it was a big confidence boost that got me looking forward to the next day.

The next day brought 75 degrees and a fun course that suited me pretty well. Like the day before, I was able to keep moving up in the field and ride strong. I think I finished 8th that day. To be fair there were 16 people that started but that's a minor detail.

In true CO fashion, the weather changed from gorgeous one weekend to snow the next. When we lined up in Louisville it was 23 degrees and still snowing from the night before. The start was chaos and there was limited room to pass on the whole course. Areas we normally ride had to be run, the sidewalks were ice and just for some added fun, all the lines we were riding started to change as the race went on. I went down hard a couple times but I knew everyone else would too, and the key was staying within yourself, knowing where you can hit the gas, and where to just stay upright. In the end it was a lot of fun and I didn't feel the cold at all once the race was on. Apparently my toes and fingers didn't feel the same way since the second we stopped, they were pretty much frozen solid.

This last weekend was another slippery snowfest. With the lessons learned from the last one, I kept reminding myself at the start to stay calm and capitalize on other people's mistakes. Well, once the race began, it was like the entire right side never went. Fortunately I was on the left and was able to sneak up into one of my best positions off the line all year. The run ups on this course were crazy hard with limited traction, and the descents were basically ice luges where you aimed your bike in the right direction and slid down until you caught traction. Looking through the race pics and hearing stores, there were a lot of crashes. I was one of them, but it didn't cost me big. Instead, I was racing with a lot of confidence and feeling good. I had a mid-pack finish, which is a great improvement from where I started the year. Now it's rest up and get ready for the State Championships on Saturday. It's too bad that the season will end once my fitness finally showed up, but my body is barely hanging on at this point and will definitely welcome some rest.