PRIDE AND GREED, THEY'LL KILL YA EVER TIME
I WAS SO SMUGLY CONFIDENT IT WOULD BE A GOOD DAY. I'd held back in the TT, legs felt great, bike was perfect...
... but I ignored my spider sense.
And, it cost me.
Before I get there, here's a quick run down of the race.
As our group advanced towards the start line for our wave, an official stopped us.
We're gonna call up the top 10 first, the next 20 fastest can fill in behind, and the rest of ya's after that.
Gotta be honest, it's pretty cool getting called up to the start line.
1 minute!
30 seconds!
5-4-3-2-1...
... the local AZ stud pins on Go!
The first mile or so, it's one long charging centipede.
After the first, and only, stinging climb, it's pretty much over. Six of us are out of site...
... I feel great.
Historically, I'm shelled at this point. Not today.
Rider 5 blows.
Rider 4 blows.
I close gaps, but the pressure is just to much.
FluorescentGreenJerseyGuy rolls by and I jump on, and we're off. Nobody else is even close...
... the lead 3 are pulling away, the two of us are rocking.
In review, I see a lot of PRs.
I still feel really good, and I'm very happy to not have the Wahoo...
... racing on feel and an occasional glance at my Apple Watch.
Here's where the pride brings me down...
First,
The Mini RaceDay Bag™ 2.0 turned out really great. It's just super clean the way it mounts. I love the way it holds everything silently. I'm real proud of the way it looks on my bike. Racy.
One problem.
I had it all set up for road, meaning all the dynaplugs were road ready. Sure I had the fat heads for MTB, but they weren't locked and loaded.
Second,
FluorescentGreenJerseyGuy sits on my wheel for a long, long time. To be fair, I'd done the same. But, when I gallantly pulled through I was sure to do it at a pace he could latch on.
When he passed me, after 40 minutes of following, he went hard. Gapped me. It happens, you rest and rest and rest and ya just can't resist making a strong move.
I know that.
So, I watched him ease ahead...
... then stop gaining...
... with the top of a 1 mile, rocky climb in sight, I closed the gap and jumped him for the equally rocky down hill.
Went as fast as I could.
He is a really good bike handler and stayed glued.
There was only one more really rocky descent and I was still in front. I purposely went as fast as I could hoping he would flat.
Oops.
Not a good idea.
I flatted.
Are you keep track of my pride? Didn't check my equipment set up and figured I could force him to flat because I have had such good luck with my tires.
That's just stupid.
I got busy fixing the flat. It took 6 or 7 minutes, 1.5 air cartridges, 4 dynaplugs.
After about 3 minutes 5th and 6th place went by.
3ish minutes later I finally got the tire to hold air.
And here comes the greed.
I was concerned the tire might not seal, so I didn't use that last 1/2 of the canister.
I should have.
While I was back up to speed, going as hard or harder than I did on the TT yesterday, I passed 6th place then I passed AZ stud who'd also flatted.
Back up to 4th.
If only I hadn't been so greedy and anxious to make up lost time. I would have heeded that rear wheel's screams for more air.
Instead, I nailed another rock with such excellent precision that a shattered the rim.
Lessons learned:
- Check, doublecheck, triplecheck all equipment.
- Slow the heck down and repair the bike properly before hauling off.
- Always listen to the Spidersense which was yelling You need more than 20lbs for this course!!!
In the shouldacouldawoulda world, there was a podium spot waiting for me. 3rd for sure, but I'm pretty sure I'da won a sprint up the long straightaway.
Oh, one more lesson...
... I do better ignoring the data and just racing my dern bike.
The Wahoo (which I found in the wrong pocket of my RaceDay Bag™) is great for training rides, but I am confident I'm faster without it during really intense racing.
That's just me.
https://pedalindustries.com/products/mini-raceday-bag-2-0
You might be asking why I don't have a Mini RaceDay Bag™ 2.0 for each bike. The answer to that is, I'm running the prototype and the first batch is in sewing right now.
Doesn't that look sharp!
That black strap is printed, and yes, absolutely yes, we can print it in your team colors.
Order here:
https://pedalindustries.com/products/mini-raceday-bag-2-0
163ish (no scale)
7.75 hrs
0 Pull Ups + 0 Power PushUps + 0 Heavy Squats
0 minutes recovery
0 minutes reading + Journaling