Bike Race! So hard!

Today was a lesson in humility, but moreso a lesson in testing and tuning before a race. I didn't think to have our team mechanic look at my bike after yesterday's race, because I know how to work on my own bike. The thing about that is, however, that means I need to actually throw my bike in the stand and turn it. I didn't, and I didn't take any air out of my tires to accommodate the damp course. I fishtailed every turn and in an effort to gain and maintain speed on my power sections, I jammed my shifting and had to pull off the course right before a steep uphill. This is enough, I think, to disqualify me since I didn't run it to the pit, but I don't think the hecklers on the sidelines were too concerned with ratting out someone who was riding sweep. The shifting debacle, however, also pulled my rear wheel out of its drops, and my last two laps were spent with a rattling rear wheel rubbing hard against the brakes. I was surprised to learn I was pulled from the race because I finished it, not because I was lapped some ferociously by the tweens I was racing against.

Lessons learned: don't go to bed at 1:30 when I need to be out the door Cora race by 8:30, and always tune my bike before and/or after a race. Other important reminders, of course, are that cyclocross, for me, is a sport much like Zozobra, signaling the peaceful and fun time between other sports, a time to have fun with friends and let it all go, and also that there is always something to be gained even from a bad race - today, I left the house, road bikes with friends, and it's a beautiful day outside. I'm sitting in our van, still in my shammy, so it's time to enjoy the parts of the day I can still recover.