Gloucester report!

I've been wondering lately why the hell I get SO nervous before the start of virtually any athletic endeavor I'm about to begin. I mean seriously, I had a customer golf tournament last Friday and I was practically hyperventilating on the first tee (I banged it 250 and straight btw). Saturday morning was no exception. Racing is a funny thing....there's wicked fast guys out there with minimalist kits and piece meal bikes and there's old frumpy dudes with bikes worth more than my car. I guess everyone just does their own thing. But I was SO damn nervous!!! I think the show of cycling bling gets me thinking bad thoughts....

Anyway....I'm in the 4th row and when the whistle blows, I hit the gas hard. My goal is try and get to the dirt in the top 20 or so guys. Considering that in the 4's lots of guys falter on the "all so important clip-in" this seemed a reasonable goal. Things started stringing out really quickly though and groups started to form. I think I was sitting in the second or third bunch.

Ran into Rich just off the pavement on lap 2 or 3 (can't remember...) and he was running....it was HIS chain that I had seen on the pavement 200 yards prior. I knew he was in the hunt and offered him my bike (that may be against da rules??) but he declined. Guess he didn't realize that we both run Eggbeaters...

By lap 4 I'm sort of at that spot where I'm really tired, but also wondering if I can push the pain away and catch some more guys (insert State Farm commercial here) when I roll up on Mike Cook and a few guys. Cookie is fast so I'm pretty psyched that I'm here. BUUUUUT, I lack any sort of finishing kick and when we hit the pavement at the end of the bell lap, I don't get a top 25...ah well, something to work on, right? 27th for the day 1.

Day 2 was tough-first time I've raced on consecutive days and the course had some new stuff. A pretty steep run up (but the footing was AWESOME so I didn't lose too much time each lap) was added as were a couple of wicked slippery turns. I felt like complete ASS on the first couple laps but then started feeling better....until lap 4, the long uphill by the baseball field when Scott the dumbass decided to try and downshift under pressure. POP goes the chain and ZoomZoom goes the 8 guys I'm racing with....by the time I caught back up with them I was shot, and yep...once again we hit the pavement and I've got no snap. DFL in the sprint and 31st on day 2.

All things considered, I'm improving and I'm happy about that. Had I not blown my chain at Quad 'Cross I would have been top 20. Gloucester fields have 120+ guys in them so at least my number of top 25% on Colin's site will no longer be bagels!

See ya' in CT this weekend! No Canton for me....Meghan's cheering squad's last football game is Sunday and I have to be there!