forced slowness

what. a. weekend.

Friday, tune up Salsa, big race!
Fresh rubber, align now broken in pads.
Retension chain, fork pressures
reset. Late eve prowl around town
to make sure everything is tight.

Sleep, sorta well. Sleep in, sorts.
Tummy a little off, appetite a
little off, morning coffee spin
is meh, Coffee doesn't settle
well. Reset with lunch then
out on it to mark course.
Spend from 1-6 hanging
arrows on the now infamous
20-30 stretch. Working with Pete,
only one working staple gun
between us = slow going. 5hours
to cover almost 12miles.

Hang out at the venue, suberb
prerace fueling of fresh fried
chicken, pasta salad, salad, bread.
And a recovery beer for each hour
spent out on the bike. Home, buzzed
blogging, then another not so sound
sleep.

Sunday, not rush, no inspiration.
No eye of the tiger. While out Saturday,
could tell my legs just weren't there.
Not finding any sort of snap on any type
of climb. So, those impressions led to
the evening's approach towards proper
recovery. Then finding a soft front tire,
100% positive it's a prickly thorn flat.
I looked immediately at the Jabberfixy.
Why not? Not feeling podium legs under
me, why not pay some dues?

The effort to find and patch a slow leaking
thorn flat was enough to tilt the board. Up
early enough for a leisure breakfast, check
the radar.

shit.

don't bother to animate it. solid green,
yellow mixed in, mostly further south.
thoughts immediatley jump to Canyon.
in the rain, w/ forward traffice slop on
the rigid fix, hmmmmm. so, this is where
it goes off track. Due to the rain, expected
chewed up loam, the Exiwolf driving the
Jabber looked like a 'bad choice'. So, instead
just fixing the Salsa flat, or even simpler, as
Buck pointed out, "why didn't you just swap
front wheels?...." uhhhhhm. I don't know,
but despite the flat fixing being 'too much,'
I did swap out the Exi for a Conti that would
at least have some 'bite' to it.

To the venue, get a number, hang out inside
CR-Vizzle cuz it's maybe 50ish and fucking
raining. Gear up, out at the last minute, rolling
social parking lot warmup lap. Then line up,
enjoy some banter, GO!!!!!

Sorta spin for the lead up the little opening climb.
Cold legs settle in quick, watch Topher tow a
handful by. Fixed reality. Then it levels, feel a
wheel behind me, keep the pedals spinning,
not quite spun across the false flat, then it
tilts down and I see Bucky and the Mule slingshot
by. Enjoy your day fellas. Use Piney to warm up.
Chat with Reuban as he tows a fellow racer along,
then try to open it up on the bit of climb before
the right into the woods.

hmmmm, that's disappointing. Ride the woods
with little traffic, trying to work hard, but it's just
not happening. flat legs fore sure, give 'em time.
Conditions are, uh, interesting. soft loam is softer
chewedness, taxing. Not making time on the
fix, surfing is tough when the rear wheel doesn't
really drift. blah blh blah mud mud mud, slum slum
slum slum blah, mud....finished wayyy back.

threw in the towel early, kicked it into 'hard
training ride' mode after the first twinge of
cramps just past the hour mark. almost backtracked
for my music pod & reserve calorie stash, but didn't.
push on. mantra for the day, jsut finish this ride,
push on. dug a few times, no fires were lit. aide stops
were well stocked, Hoptical Illusion and some other
tastey IPA. sorta quit eating and drinking after aide 2.
some water, maybe a gel on the bike. stomach got
queasy hiking up Wietzel's. Did eat the PayDay I
found on the ground along LowerCanyon,
figured it was probably mine from previous day
marking. Picked up a few other wrappers, and found
a Jacket! Some sort of Giordana, not sure about size
or details, gonna wash it first, if you dropped it...

Good to see the 'cakes out there, OMW, Jake, Travis,
DrunkenFinishChuteGuyPeter, Bender. Thanks for the,
uh, motivation. and beer(s).

Trail thoughts. hmmmm, definitely took it's toll on
the freshness, and even the seasoned freshness.
being where I was in the pack, saw it for the worst
for the most part, not sure how much the sweeps
chewed it up....but, all in all, I think everything is
gonna mature and heal just fine. Didn't see it gouging
down into the mineral in too many places, just lots
of chewed up loam that's not really going anywhere,
got pushed to the downhill side in spots. Thinking
that this steady soaking rain will help tamp it in a
bit and settle. Will take some traffic then to mold
it, but I'm not too worried in the long term. Hope to
check it sometime this week, S-D-S prep could delay
that though

Was glad to finally see a winning avg speed under 10.
Nice work Harlan.