The past few weeks I have been suffering from a lack of motivation or a mid season burnout. The remedy is time off to re focus. My last few races have gone horrible for many reasons. My early season goals were too much, so I cut out most my MTB races till road season ends. Less racing and more fun, I also picked up a few items to get back into running some. Mountain biking will have to wait for the fall. Back to race recaps though. West Branch I only raced to get some hill reps at race speed, I severely overdid it during the work week and came into the race beat tired. I was hoping to at least sit in the field to get fitness for Mt. Pleasant, which I did but in the end the cold nasty weather spit me off the back and back to the parking lot. Crashing before the race and gashing my right calf didn't help matters.
After West Branch I was hoping a week of rest and easier rides would be a cure to have a successful weekend at my second stage race of the year. I was really amped up for the prologue TT in the days prior, but when race time came I just had no drive. It led me to an uninspired 21st place in a discipline I normally race strong in. Going first didn't help either, its better to chase then be chased. The 4.1 mile distance is not a strong suit for me either. Hopefully the state TT at 40k will suit me much better. Saturday I was hoping for a better day. When it rains it pours for me, prior to the race I suffered a flat on some glass. Not only was the tire toast, it cut the tube in two spots. I had time to fix it before the race, however it made me miss my nap time. The race didn't go much better, my lungs acted up at the start and I slid to the back. When things finally started to settle down I started to drive my way back up the pack. Then a crash happened and I had no where to go but stop. The race went up the road and I was done at 9 minutes. I pleaded to the refs to give me a free lap to rejoin since I had to put a foot down to avoid the wreck. However they said I needed to have hit the ground to get a free lap. I am not gonna go to deep into this, but a major loop hole in the rules. It's a bunch of bull shit when you can't rejoin a race because some guy can't corner and ended up doing a snow angel in the middle of a turn. You can say I should have been towards the front to avoid it, but my body just hadn't settled into the crit. Next time I will just flop...ride into the grass and fall over. I was so angry after this I had to go ride around town for 35 minutes to not strangle anyone. When you train hard for a race and find your self watching on the sidelines for reasons you can't control it maddening.
Sunday I was hoping for something, anything to cheer me up. It was a 54 mile race, easy I thought. I can't get a break though, the weather was clear skies with temps reaching lower 90's. The race started good with the team making solid moves. At mile 15 or so I looked to do some damage and attacked on a head wind section. I stayed off the front for a good 5 miles, I mostly just road a steady tempo pace. At this time I noticed the heat index was nearing 100. Before the race I had joked that 2 bottles of water was more then enough. I brought 3 to be safe. After I was brought back the racing was erratic. There was lots of attacks and counters making for hard riding. The terrain rolled some, nothing major, the cross wind just ate the pack alive. Around mile 30 I was the first to blow, I had very little water and some major heat stroke. I was a bit delirious, the master 35 pack passed us, but we passed them back almost right away. I didn't notice the pass back and found myself out of the race. To be honest I was baked, I rationed my few sips of water left hoping to make it the last 24 miles...ya right. I just felt worse and worse and wish I had a cell phone to call someone to pick me up. I was really dehydrated and started to dream of rivers, oceans and water. I felt like I was in a desert, it kept driving the pedals in my delirious state. I was just about to stop at somebodies house and ask for water when a wheel vehicle went by. The guy asked me if I was ok, of course I said heck no. He handed me a 26 oz bottle of water, I then drank half of it...which made me more sick. Oh well I had some water, I carried on for 10 miles to make it to the finish. Before the finish I was once again out of water. I crossed the line and went straight for shade and the riders tent to grab lots of water. Hour later I was mostly ok, still very disappointed. Turns out many others got shelled after I did for very similar reasons and almost everyone finished dehydrated and out of water. I felt good about my attack and wouldn't have done it any other way. I think no matter what the heat would have KO'ed me, growing up on the West Coast does not prepare someone to suffer in heat over 100.
After the state TT I am going to take some time off and work on my base conditioning in extreme heat. That just means I need to not race for a few weekends. Hopefully some 3-4 hour rides in warm weather along with some running will cure my heat conditioning issues. I guess its all the ups and downs of a season, hopefully the second half goes much better. My expectations are low for the state TT, but I would love to podium. My training numbers earlier this week show I still got the kick, I just need to find the drive this weekend.
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