Humility

If you know me, you might know I'm prone to having days where I'm very off my game. They don't happen very often and I'm not sure what happens, but once it starts there isn't much to stop it. Today was one of those days.

It started in the morning. I went over to JJ's house to wax the mold of his fairing. Somewhere between the acetone and the Partall Paste in his not-so-ventilated basement, my stomach started getting queasy and my head felt light. At first I thought it was having a couple of beers with Chaz last night that was my problem, but when I packed up early and laid down outside I felt better. The beer probably didn't help....

Anyway, I was feeling better so I decided to drive down to the Summit Crit. I signed my release waver and went out to do a couple of warm up laps. Coming around on my second warm up lap, I found that they had already started the Cat 5 race without me. Or I missed the start or something. #$%! I chased as hard as I could for six of eight laps, but the lead group kept dangling out in front of me. I pulled off the course and DNF'd, hoping my chances would be better in the 3/4/5 race.

The 3/4/5 race didn't go any better. The wind out at Dakota Tech was really whipping through the course and I ended up sticking my nose in it too much on the first couple laps. On the third lap I popped and DNF'd again. It was really frustrating watching everyone else from the grass when I knew I should be racing with them, but today just wasn't my day. They say you need fail early and often in order to succeed sooner, so hopefully today got me closer to a win. The amateur race of the NVGP in Mankato is Saturday and I'm psyched.

Things I learned today:
-Don't drink the day before a race, even if its just a little. For that matter, don't use solvents in an unventilated area the day of a race.

-Show up to the starting line on time. No matter how important I think I am, they won't wait for me.

-I need more rest, I think. The last few weeks have been really hard work and I should try to get the right amount of rest.

In other news, Adam Bergman was on the front page of the Pioneer Press today. I'm glad he's trying to make it now that he's clean, but I just don't think its appropriate to give this much publicity to local doping. There are so many cool people and story lines in Minnesota cycling deserving even a tiny amount of press which should have gotten it first.