Sometimes in life, The Grand Provider Hands out doses of humility to keep us in check. This past weekend was certainly one of those situations...
1st piece of Pie....Saturday's race at Elk Grove, Open 4's...I was feeling good about this one, all the usual suspects had upgraded to the 3's and I felt capable of a solid result, Actually I was a bit cocky after five podiums this season(mistake)...I sat in good position the entire race until the last lap, instead of Riding my usual race, I got lazy and decided to mark a strong rider and was directly effected by his poor positioning choice and was immediately taken out by others poor handling...bang,s#@t,slide....race over, I stand up, get back on bike and wave to applauding fans and apologize to a few parents with there kids.."sorry if I swore in front of your kids", the nice people of Elk Grove Village responded kindly with "Are you OK ?, Oh...Don't worry about it"
Lesson Learned...
2nd piece of Pie....Sunday's Race at Elk Grove, Masters 3/4... with holes in my kit and my right side covered with impressive road rash...I was ready to roll... The vibe in this race was polar opposite from the whistle, Filled with Strong Cat 3's I recognized, The pace was above 30 from the jump, but there was a respectful communication within the peloton and 100% better handling across the board compared to the day before..The first prime was called out, I worked my way up front and jumped from 250 meters and immediately got squashed by a Project 5 racer...I shut it down and humbly sat back in, Like a puppy that pee'd on the carpet..This.....was going to be a different animal, every prime lap, which felt like every freakin lap, We were doing 34 down the Home stretch...I'll make a long story short....Bell Lap..I worked my way to the front in the last lap, but I didn't have the legs to do anything, nada, nothing...I held on for 20th, I'll take it.. 50 bucks is 50 bucks...ha
This race reminded me with fondness of when I first started riding a couple years ago and my experiences with xXx'ers George,Soren,Shane,Ed and Randy where I rode in Terror of getting dropped on every single training ride and I HAD to pay attention. There level of character and firm instruction made me develop a respect for this sport and love it....
The moral....Ride with people Better, Faster and Stronger than you and Learn, learn learn....I'm ready to be humbled on a regular basis in the 3's next year and become the Racer I know I can be...