Two races happened this week with two very different outcomes. Thursday felt like it was going to be tough. I was creaking all day walking up the stairs at work so I had very little confidence in a positive outcome. Little did I know my legs would feel better than they have all year. I started with a fair effort and built speed pretty quickly. Pretty soon I was feeling really strong and passing some guys that I've been finishing with all year. Finally I passed a couple of people that I've been trying to catch all year. I ended up fifth. I got close to Heath before he decided he wanted to ride fast again and made me look like I was going backwards. Matt brought a ringer to the party. Mark McCormack is apparently a bigshot road/cyclocross champion. He ended third being edged out by Jesse and Brendan, but he looked really fast the couple seconds I saw him. It was a really fun race that is a highlight of my year so far.
Friday my house flooded and I took two days away from biking to clean as much as I could. It was not a trade I'd like to make again.
After two days of vacuuming the race at Mont Du Lac arrived. Last year it was a three hour walk in the mud. This year it was hot! Maybe not as hot as I thought but I was having trouble. I started fast. I guess two days of rest will do that. Who knew? At the top of the gigantic hill that is the start of the race I was sitting just behind the leaders. I was moving fast but breathing hard. All I needed to do was recover. That never happened. The heat sunk in and I felt like a pinball bouncing over the plentiful roots that are everywhere at Du Lac. It was ugly. And long. Two and a half hours of me riding poorly and slowly. Maybe next year.
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