4luvandlife

we showed up a little later than planned. got there in time to get my packet, change and ride for about a mile to warm up. i was feeling better to see that the climb up was dramatically less than Mont Du Lac. weather was great again. upper 70's and very breezy. started in the 2nd wave. went off the start line for a short sprint to the switchbacks uphill. 4th race of the year so i knew who to try to stay with. got into second going up the hill and tried to stay with JC in 1st. my legs felt the lack of a real warm-up here. he started to move away towards the top and really took off in the single-track woods at the top. remembering afton and mont du lac i went after him but he was out of sight. came out to a little opening and then back into single-track that wasn't very pass friendy. came across a group of 5 or 6 from the first wave and thought for sure JC in 1st would have got caught and slowed up in that group...he wasn't there. couldn't believe my eyes. he must be flyi...

so what happened? well first of all Afton doesn't start climbing right away... Mont Du Lac does. that was the first thing i learned when i got there. the start line was ON the hill. you look up the ski hill and are forced to imagine yourself biking up that. it hurts a little just to look at it. at the start line i asked around to get an idea of how long that climb goes. You could only see a portion of it from the bottom. it turned to the right and went behind some trees. one guy gave me a little idea of how long it went. i wouldn't fully appreciate it for about 5 more minutes. from about 1 minute after go i could feel the 1 week away from the bike and the cold i had just gotten over. walking was already tempting in the first 300 yards. i did not want to walk basically off the starting line and did manage to avoid that. i got around that turn to the right and saw that this hill meant business. i had been in a local bike shop the day before and saw the evil grins when i told them...

got a bad sore throat/cough about last wednesday night or thursday morning. it is next wednesday afternoon as this is written. last ride was last thursday morning as funny tickle in throat was being noticed. i am decided on racing this weekend in the 3rd mnscs race in Duluth. a couple of days ago i wasn't sure. a little fear of going into a race with what i imagine to be a lot of climbing after not riding for nearly a week and a half. i have heard that people have been surprised at how they feel after something like this. i know i have been surprised before with good rides that i thought would be bad or ok. now i'm curious. i have been trying to eat well to get better and feel like i am preparing in some way. the B and the boys love a road trip and a hotel stay anyway and i am anxious to get the dnf behind me and a finish back on the board. let's see what happens.

i may have been sensing the future when i wrote that last post. i had meant it to be a reminder to keep going when it looks bad for my goals. a couple of things had happened at work and riding wise that were obstacles or opportunity depending on how i reacted to them. that post was to celebrate the choice of opportunity over obstacles and the good results of that. yesterday at Afton Alps was another kick in the teeth however. it may have been an omen when i didn't hear my first call-up ever because i was chatting in the starting chute. this was a milestone that i will admit i had been looking forward to. i didn't hear call-ups for the first wave so i decided that they weren't going to happen as i heard they were. it didn't really matter race wise. i made my way to the front of the pack by the time the singletrack started. the climbing starts quick at Afton. Like right away, as soon as you are in the singletrack. i was first for a while but not feeling great. i got passe...