Fear and Loathing in Richton Park

After getting dropped 12 laps into a fifty lap race, due to no reason other than an inability to hold the 30mph pace, my head is a flurry of conflicting emotions, thoughts, and rationalizations. I'm certainly not fit enough to actually race Cat 3 races right now, I nearly survived the furious attacking and high pace on a course that I was suited for; two more laps and I would have been OK.

I used the inhaler and my lungs were fine.

On the plus side, the racing is better, smoother, faster, more challenging than Cat 4. I think this year's 3 races are faster than last year's as well. After I dropped on lap 12, I heard an official remark that the riders were averaging 30mph per lap, kind of surprised at the speed.

This is good for me, I'm going to respond to this by becoming a better rider. I know part of my problem is a lack of early season racing, hard to get your race legs all at once at Super Week, but that couldn't be helped. Not the 7 foot snow drifts in early March, or the concussion due to equipment failure in May. And this is another thing that is wonderful about bike racing. To do well, everything must come together in a balance. I do my part to train and plan, for each race, for each training ride, for the year. Then things happen and the dance and the balancing begins again.

Today I'm off to Bensenville for my last Chicago race of the Super Week series. Next up will be Humboldt Park on Thursday and maybe a spin with my little guy tomorrow. Sometimes balancing is not such an unpleasant thing after all.