The racing season is now officially here. For some anyway. A few races have already happened, at least one Sacramento Series race, DFL and also the seemingly beefed-up Livermore Series is in effect. I've done none of them, mind you. I came close to lining up for a random Livermore race a few weeks ago but decided instead to crash on a lazy Friday afternoon. It was a stupid crash...basically I hopped off my bike at 20+ mph and crashed...um...running. Since I can't run quite that fast. I've been practicing my CX dismounts a bit and that particular day, I was practicing and also showboating a bit for the riding buddies, giving them a sound kicking up the hill or along the road, and then topping it off with a dismount-run-remount display of CX prowess. Quite impressive the first few times I pulled it off, but this one across the county line sign (handily winning the sprint) didnt' work out so well.
Sign me up for road rash on my forearm, shin and upper thigh, four knuckles badly skinned, one needing 2 stitches, and a side order of hematoma to the left lower buttock. Yay.
Anyway it kept me from whimsically lining up at Livermore, which is an awful shame because the thought crossed my mind and at the moment, didn't seem like a half bad idea.
A few weeks later and the body has healed remarkably fast, and by most indicators I'm riding well. So...you'd think I'd be pretty excited to line up at Sunday's CCCX race. You would be wrong.
I'm feeling something between indifference, pre-race jitters and outright dread about the whole prospect. At the moment racing sounds like zero fun andI don't know why I'd bother, when I could just as easily to a long, lazy ride, drink some coffee and have a nap. And that may yet happen, but somehow, I don't think so. The race is there, and for whatever reason, I feel like I gotta go. Like I'm supposed to. Not sure why, but there you go.
It helps to think of it as training. Yeah, a good hour's worth of training, that's all. Nevermind the driving, the entry fee, the stress and general freak fest of being elbow to elbow with 50 other skinsuit-clad, adrenalin-addled kooks itching to kill each other. It also helps that the weather sucks and there's a strong potential for rain tomorrow, making it a potential mud dance. Which strangely, holds more appeal to me than racing in the dry. I don't f'ing know. If I can shut my brain off and just get out there, line up and ride in circles for 60 minutes, I'll probably feel like a better person for doing so, though at the moment I'm not quite sure why. Right about now, I can't quite remember why I do this.
All this lunacy is no doubt caused by the cocktail of work stress, travelling wife and lack of sleep that I've had the past week, but it doesn't matter.
Sign me up for road rash on my forearm, shin and upper thigh, four knuckles badly skinned, one needing 2 stitches, and a side order of hematoma to the left lower buttock. Yay.
Anyway it kept me from whimsically lining up at Livermore, which is an awful shame because the thought crossed my mind and at the moment, didn't seem like a half bad idea.
A few weeks later and the body has healed remarkably fast, and by most indicators I'm riding well. So...you'd think I'd be pretty excited to line up at Sunday's CCCX race. You would be wrong.
I'm feeling something between indifference, pre-race jitters and outright dread about the whole prospect. At the moment racing sounds like zero fun andI don't know why I'd bother, when I could just as easily to a long, lazy ride, drink some coffee and have a nap. And that may yet happen, but somehow, I don't think so. The race is there, and for whatever reason, I feel like I gotta go. Like I'm supposed to. Not sure why, but there you go.
It helps to think of it as training. Yeah, a good hour's worth of training, that's all. Nevermind the driving, the entry fee, the stress and general freak fest of being elbow to elbow with 50 other skinsuit-clad, adrenalin-addled kooks itching to kill each other. It also helps that the weather sucks and there's a strong potential for rain tomorrow, making it a potential mud dance. Which strangely, holds more appeal to me than racing in the dry. I don't f'ing know. If I can shut my brain off and just get out there, line up and ride in circles for 60 minutes, I'll probably feel like a better person for doing so, though at the moment I'm not quite sure why. Right about now, I can't quite remember why I do this.
All this lunacy is no doubt caused by the cocktail of work stress, travelling wife and lack of sleep that I've had the past week, but it doesn't matter.
posted by the seamus at 11:31 PM
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