08 PA BAR & nittany cross

You show up to the right races and those BAR results can look respectable. I only did two PA BAR races racing masters this year--the road and tt championships. (Double points for championships, right?) And races, incidentally, that no one else seemed to want to go to (though it may be worth pointing out that while there were few folks, I was at least the fastest cat 3 both days). So, pick the right races...

...

Well, the first cross race of my season has come and gone...and was a major disappointment. I had to stop four times for mechanicals. (1) A break that got lodged up under my rim after a sandpit crash. (2) A pit stop for a flat tire...though after screwing around in the pit for probably 30-40 seconds I didn't actually get a wheel. (3) A pit stop for the same flat tire on the next lap...this time I changed wheels. (4) A dropped chain in the sandpit. With all my stopping I passed some guys two or three times. Oh yeah, and the string on my shoes broke no more than five minutes before the start. I left my bike in the starting area amid the other cyclists and ran off to the parking lot to find someone with tape. A person in the third car I came to had tape...and while I'm super thankful for his generosity and my good luck in the face of exceedingly bad luck, I proceeded to wrap the tape so tight that halfway into the first lap I began to wonder if it's possible to lose my toes to a foot tourniquet within 45 minutes of bike racing. At the finish I ripped the tape off first thing and my foot kept hurting for a good hour afterward.

But even a crappy day at the races is better than a good day doing just about anything else.

The sad thing is that I think I felt pretty good fitness-wise. But I rode on a flat tire half the race. And had to stop a bunch of times. And missed my call-up while I was dinking around with some electrical tape and a broken shoe. So it's hard to know how I would have stacked up against the crowd had things gone a little better mechanically.

Next week... And on tubulars for the first time. With my luck, I'll roll a front tire within 400 yards of the start.