Race lessons

As I was packing at the hotel, I picked up my Bible and it flipped open to Psalms.124: "If it had not been the Lord..." Right then I remembered that barrier coming up towards me. "If it had not been..." Not to mention the fact that we had an entirely safe trip; the car held up; the bodies and minds stayed refreshed. Truly, I'm blessed. ..

In Hitchiker's guide to the galaxy -- at least in the movie version -- it is recommended to always carry a towel with oneself; or to at least always know where that towel is.

I have found that extremely true in racing. For instance; I hate driving in my chamois, so I wait to change into my racing clothes until I get there. I simply tie the towel around my waist and I can change anywhere. Of course toweling-off after a race rules, too.

This week I upgraded from a towel to a pillow and a blanket. The blanket offers more coverage, plus you can lay it down anywhere -- like on the parking lot in the shade between two cars -- and nap comfortably for several hours. Talk about race recovery.
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Jason actually has the words to "hey there delilah" memorized. Kid needs a guitar.
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Yesterday's race was a lot of fun. I felt really strong. I was in the front making breaks. Winning primes. I was the man.
When we rounded the corner at the bottom of the last climb I was in second position. Some dude clipped a pedal and I heard the bike scrape along the ground behind me. The whole peleton freaked out and hit their brakes like a bunch of lemmings after a trip to the tree of knowledge. This was it. Me and the race leader. He accelerated. My legs? The same legs that had been 'controlling' the race? Yeah, they wilted like butter on hot pancakes. I fought with everything I had and finished 11th. From 2nd to 11th. In 50 seconds.

It's the hardest lesson to learn. Racing isn't about getting attention, or hearing your name. It's about the finish line. I don't care how many laps you lead. Yeah, it sucks to sits in the back of a bunch of squirrley cat 5 riders. But sometimes that's what it takes to have the strength for the finish. That little yellow stripe across the road. That's what matters.

So I decided I would sit in today. At the start it wouldn't have mattered. Even after a long warmup I didn't have the strength to chase a sea turtle, had it chosen to break-away. But midway through the race they finally came around.

It was a beautiful course: A beautiful sweeping downhill stretch to the finish, and a nice hill on the backside, with a bottle-neck corner leading into it. In warmup, I was placing bets with myself how many riders were going to eat it there. I smelled burnt rubber more than once during the race from all the cyclists freaking out on their brakes. Yeah, I didn't like it much. At one point I was coming into the corner on the outside next to the metal barricades. Some racers decided to move up a few places on my inside and forced me over to the barriers. I looked up and saw the metal foot right in front of me.

A lot of praying. A lot of screaming 'Stopping!'. And a lot of crazy bike skills. Somebody clipped my rear wheel, but we kept it upright.

So we raced on. Several breaks kept forming, so at one point I went for a mid-race prime, hoping to segue that into a break. I didn't win the prime-- it was neck and neck but I wanted to save that final kick for the race finish -- but we did get a little gap. Unfortunately nobody in the gap felt strong enough to hold it so -- in spite of my screaming (Pull! c'mon, work it! Pull off! let's go!)-- we dropped back. Good call. Little energy wasted.

Coming into the final lap the winner went right to the front and pulled all the way up the hill. I figured he would blow up. Just kept chugging. We rounded the corner and he was gone. I was blocked in, until everybody started sprinting, but got out just in time to fight for it. Ah, it was so painful. I kept grabbing gears.. It hurt so bad but I knew it would be over ten seconds.. so I grabbed a few more gears and stood on the pedals.

I doubt there's been any happier 3rd place finisher.

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If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;

If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:

Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:

Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Psalms 124