Well, it's been several weeks since I posted. In that time I raced Suckerbrook in NH, and was having a good race until I crashed slowly in the sand with just over a lap to go. Then I was in VT for the Catamount race weekend, the first in the Verge series. Saturday was perfect for me, fast enough to keep the mtb'ers behind me and technical enough to make the roadies hesitate. After a strong road and mtb season, I put it together and finished up 8th. Great result for me. Going into Sunday, I was on cloud nine. I was pumped for another great finish. With a guaranteed front row spot due to call-ups, I headed out on the course for one last warm-up lap. Racing a little too hard and a little too fast, I came around a corner, hit a ditch and went flying over my handlebars, landing on the small of my back. This would have hurt enough, but killed when I actually landed on my waterbottle that was in the center pocket of my vest. Something I do when warming up. Limping back to the start, I was in so much pain. Even racing, whenever I tried to get out of the saddle, my back hurt. Whenever I tried to put some power down, my back hurt. Bumps, my back hurt. The entire race was spent going backwards. I barely cracked the top 30, and sulked on my way home. For the next week or so, I tried to ride the indoor trainer, but that too hurt. Finally I started vacation a day early and stayed off the bike. The next day I went to New Mexico with my mother to visit my grandmother for a week. The time off the bike was good.
Returning to racing today, I headed to Mansfield Hollow in CT. For some reason this isn't a wildly popular race. The course is old school New England, lots of mounts/dismounts, run-ups, sand, fast sections and a huge off camber section. I started great, settling into fifth place after two laps, then ran out of steam as the race wore on. I ended up finishing 8th, just out of 7th, by about a half wheel length. Because this race is so awesome, they give prizes ten deep. I took home a t-shirt, bag and a video. Looking through my goodie bag, I have to wonder why cyclist clothing companies make size extra large clothes. I'm a pretty decent sized cyclist and I swim in size XL. If they are going to give away prizes, they should err on the size of small. Oh well, swag is awesome, so that's not a complaint.
Tomorrow is Canton, another great race.
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