Sunday, October 19, 2008

Fall Break

I had lots of good intention to ride and write a lot this week over fall break. Unfortunately, i didn't get much of either done. Tuesday evening i came down with the nasty cold that has been going around and that waylaid my best plans. Instead of getting lots of miles in on the bike or finishing my diss revisions i spent a good part of my fall break right here:


By friday the worst of the sore throat had passed and i was mostly just contending with cough attacks and phlegm so i decided to get out for a ride. I felt alright, so saturday morning i determined to go race, even though i was still sniffling a lot. After a few warm-up laps i wasn't feeling too strong, and almost decided to sit this one out, but talked myself into at least starting the race. "You can pull out if you're feeling real lousy," i told myself. So i started, and i hung in with the leaders the first few laps. Team Revolution (Pasternak, Sherwin, and I) opened up a fair lead on most of the pack, thanks in part to some other riders crashing out over the bunnyhop log.

TW runs the small log that claimed quite a few riders who were bunnyhopping it.

After four of five laps it was down to Pasternak, Sherwin, a ski utah cyclist (Taft), and I. With three laps to go Pasternak got a little too showy with his bunnyhops and went down over the log, leaving Sherwin, Taft, and I. On the last lap, after the barricades i jumped and came around both of them on a corner, hoping to either draw Taft into an attack so i could block for Sherwin, or just take it, though honestly, since i have been sick, i didn't think i would have much for a sprint against two riders i had been struggling to hang onto for the last few laps. I'm not sure what happened behind me because i didn't turn around to look once i jumped, but i suspect Sherwin blocked for me and i made it through the technical multiple turns of the race and across the finish line in first place. Wow! Didn't expect that, especially since i hadn't ridden much all week and have been fighting this lousy cold. But a big thanks to my teammates for my first cycling win ever. Finally!

TW also rode strong and won her race by quite a margin. I promised her that when she won a race she would get props and pics on my blog, so Congrats!! Do it again next week!!


Much to my dismay, the weekend is almost over, which means fall break is more-or-less over, and i didn't get shit done. Feeling just a bit overwhelmed right now with all the stuff i've got to do, and not sure how it's going to happen. i think i'll go ride my bike.

3 comments:

Tay12 said...

Thanks for keeping your promise coach!;)

Erin Bradley said...

Why are you in such great shape and my husband is not. I'm pretty sure he thinks that he will killover if he exerts any energy from his body. Might not be too far from the truth at this point:(
Good job on the race!!!

matt b. said...

because your husband is a republican and we all know that republicans feed off the hard work of others like dirty parasites. That's why he has such a hard time exerting energy to do anything but look for tax loop holes.

but thanks Er-dog. you know i love you and your cute little kids even if they have the same hairdo Chris Farley had in 1992.