Sunday, May 31, 2009

I think an endo still counts...

... even if there's no one in the woods to see you do it.

The last time I endo'd my mountain bike, it was in full view of Shea and at least 4 other riders. Shea and I were out for a training ride last year at Loch Raven - I for some reason thought that following him over what some would call a bump, but really is a pile 'o dirt meant to be jumped. At speed. Without jumping. And then I was flying. So was my bike - it wound up a ways ahead of me and I lost a bit of skin to a little tree that I cuss at every time I pass now. I landed flat on my back, and the honey packet in my jersey packet exploded - lovely, so now in pain with sticky bee bait running down my bum. It's been a while - I was due for a crash.

Today, we were racing in Delaware. I'm still racing baby, I mean, beginner class, mostly because I'm still slow. It was the first race that was truly fun lately. I've been riding a lot and running when not riding, so my fitness is better than it was for the earlier races this year. Anyway, I also set two very simple goals for myself - eat by 40 minutes into the race and don't go out too hard - I wanted to have a faster lap time for the second lap than the first. After a terrible start, I was behind some riders having trouble with the mud. Probably didn't matter - two women who were destined to be off the front were by the time I cleared all of the crashing women and got to passing crashing men who had started before us. I was feeling pretty good - the course there is reasonably technical and muddy - confidence from the mud fest at Michaux a few weeks ago helped a lot. I also learned during the Michaux race that riding up a muddy hill is always faster than walking up it (unlike dry hills, where I can sometimes run/walk faster than ride).

Somewhere very near the end of the second lap, after having no major body on ground experiences, I felt my front wheel come off of a wet root sideways and felt myself unable to save it. As I realize I'm crashing, I do the really dumb thing of reaching out with my hands to break my fall. And proceed to land on my face/forehead/helmet. Oh well, at least there wasn't any mud in my eyes. Somehow, I was laying under my bike, which had landed upsidedown - resting on the handlebars and seat - and my left foot was still clipped in. Hmph. That sucked. Got up - bike okay, me okay, pulled mud from helmet and rode on, with slightly less abandon. I wound up 2nd, my first true podium in a while (turns out one of the women off the front was in the other age class). Several women DNF'd - not going out for the second lap at all. Good times. Felt like a cyclocross morning - warming up and registering in the rain. Can't wait for 'cross season...

No comments:

Post a Comment