I have been hiding from here for a little while. This race just seemed like I felt the need to dust off this page and help me mentally work this one out. You can tell already by the title that this is not the recap that I would like to make but here I am. Anyone who had been around here before knows that I have disappeared for a couple years. 2023 was my last post here and I have just not felt like I had anything worth posting. My life and activities have drastically changed over the last 5 years. I have lost a lot of fitness and motivation to do some of the things I used to consider normal. This has not been all bad as it has led to me doing things that I do enjoy.
The last few years found me with my slowest DSR races since the start. This was the 10th year of this race and has grown a lot since the first year in 2017. I have had some good races and even ended up on the SS podium one year and only missed a couple of the years. After getting tired of being too out of shape, I felt like I spent a little more time in myself over the winter to try and be stronger for this year. Up until the weekend before the race, I was feeling pretty good with myself but had a new bike I was dragging my feet on getting up and running for some reason I cannot explain.
After finally getting the new bike up and running the week before I did a hard gravel loop the weekend before the race. This was great to get some time on the bike and I needed the miles on my legs, but this pointed out a few things. The legs were feeling very tired compared what I would have expected and the bike still needed a couple adjustments. The weather for the weekend was also looking really bad. With all of those things together, I decided to go ahead and make some modifications to make the day more comfortable.
Ever since my wife has been joining me for this race, I normally use Friday for doing things with her on the way and make the weekend a little more enjoyable. This has not always set me up in the best situation for a great ride the next day but that is all on me. We made a few of our normal stops before heading to St. Nicholas Brewing for packet pickup and to meet up with some friends. I will say that this year had the overwhelming feeling that I should not race. I am not sure why but a lot of little things were not going to plan and everything just felt a little off. It was not one little thing that was this way. It was more like a lot of little random things all adding up to have my second guessing the whole weekend.
I did not sleep too well that night and Saturday morning came around sooner than I wanted. As I was trying to get moving, my phone sounded like my alarm was going off but it was a weather alert. It was not too much longer that the tornado sirens were going off. Just the start of a rainy day that everyone needs. This did not build confidence for how the day was going to go. We all continued to get things ready and eventually was loaded up and heading to the start area. We got there earlier than we really need with the weather. I was felt a little lost on getting ready. It seemed like we were too early to get out of the van. I also did not really feel like being out in the rain already.
Eventually I got my stuff together and was getting ready to head down to the start area. I went to get on my bike and as I pushed off the handlebars rotated forward. Yeah, great... This needed to get fixed right now. I pulled the bars back close to where I wanted them. I took the tool out of my pack and tried to tighten the stem. I tested the bars and them moved again on me. I tried to tighten them some more. Since I was using a pocket tool and the stress was getting higher, I got the bolts as tight as I felt like I could and even messed up 2 of the bolt heads. That was when I figured my day was done. I didn't really feel like I had the things I needed to "fix" the issue. There was another mtb in the van that I was told I could use but by now the start was getting too close that I didn't feel like trying to set up a bike that is too big for me to ride 60 miles in the lightning and pouring rain.
So, the only thing I felt like there was to do is change out of my riding clothes and go watch the start. I hated to end my race this early, but I was not that sad I was not riding in this weather. I cheered everyone who started both races and settled in for the day. I felt a little strange being at a race and not being on my bike. I had thought about hanging out in the bar across the street, but it didn't open for a few hours. I didn't have my car to go kill the time anywhere else so I went to the awesome little convenient store and found some cold beer to help pass the time.
It was great to see friends have some great rides. Congratulations to Tayor for winning the SS class. Congratulations to everyone who toed the line and went through those conditions and still found the finish line. The suck, suffering, the grind, the pain, those are the things I usually excel at with the no quit attitude, but here I am just watching and quitting with such a preventable mechanical issue before I even started. Everything leading up to that point is my fault and my fault alone. I'll have to live with the nagging thoughts until I can do something to try and correct the action.
After things settled down we headed back, went for some food and hung out the rest of the night. The next morning we took our time getting up out of the house. Went into Carbondale for some breakfast before heading to Tunnel Hill to sneak in a bike ride. It was good to get some miles in and try to make the best of things. I always love riding with my wife and the sun was mostly shining. It was a good ride and then we headed back home to wrap up the weekend.
As a little recap to some things. Just to make me think that I am glad I didn't try riding, after getting back to the house, the bolts were tightened on my stem. While riding the rail trail I hit a bump and the bars still moved a little. Hard telling how bad it might have been on a couple of those down hills in the race. Also, to take any doubt away, I installed a new stem that I have better confidence in. I have since taken it out for a ride and had no issues. I am not sure if I have too many races on the calendar, but I hope to keep working on myself this year and maybe I will be back next year for a good race.
No comments:
Post a Comment