Oh what a day! For the past couple of weeks the planets have not been aligned causing minor amounts of grief and hand gesturing to the sky. But that all changed this past weekend. It was to be my last Cross race for the season and, while I know many already miss it and some are still in the thick of it, I for one am finished, fertig, fini, gotowych, terminado. I didn’t even go to the end of year party…not completely my fault. So anyhow, the good part. Well first, I did not register so had to show up to Hop Works on Friday. Long story short, because I did not register at all I was able to pass the entire line to the one poor soul on the computer who was “Not allowed” to handle pre-registered people and only register new people. I was out of there in 5 minutes.
Saturday was Sunny and beautiful. I did not have the car so I loaded up my gear and headed out on my bike with plenty of time to take it easy. I arrived at PIR 45 minutes later very relaxed and in a darn good mood. I had some time to kill and just rode around watching the juniors race. Ahhh the days of only 10 people fields. For my race I was number 85 of 91 (It was still worth missing the line). The gun shot and off we went. I worked my way up along the side (surprising amount of room I must say). We headed into the first dirt section and then back on to a road. The pack was thinning out and I figured I had better bust my ass now or waive good-bye to any chance so I gunned it. I found myself well up by now maybe mid pack or further. I was happy.
The disaster! The mud pit pulled my chain off and in my panic I managed to fumble getting it back on. Much to the taunting and glee of the crowd. Once on, I jumped on and immediately went over my bars. The cheers from the crowed were now both comforting and humiliating at the same time. By now I had stopped counting the passing riders. Chain back on I was off. At this point it was about the workout more than anything.
A fun sunny course. I can honestly say I did not miss missing Sunday. I know, I know, sacrilege! There is a side of me that knows I’m in denial and as I cleaned my bike the next day I felt a bit sad to have missed the bog.