Monday, 30 March
Last Saturday was one of the best road races on the NW race calendar. And it snowed. All day. It didn't really stick to the roads, and hundreds of people paid their money and at least started the race. Not I. Riders who "finished early" came back to the community hall at race registration shivering uncontrollably and lacking their full mental capacities. They were so cold that their bodies were diverting energy to things other than their thinking processes. It was interesting--if not very motivating--to see. Racing and 36 degrees with heavy wet snow are just not compatible.
I had spent the last few days convincing myself I could race in the rain on this course. It poured here a couple years ago, and I survived. So I would overcome the blehs I had in the rain at Mason Lake and just do it. Visualization might work for some people, but you have to visualize the right thing. I did not dial in the snow part of the equation.
So here we are more than a month into the race season and I have completed a sum total of one road race. I never imagined that weather would be a consistently determining factor in getting to the finish line. Needless to say, I am more than a little worried about the prospect of a stage race this weekend. Maybe I should race the masters women's category after all....
4 comments:
It wasn't THAT bad ;)
Oh really tough guy, then why did you email me the following?
"I couldn't imaging doing a 4th lap. I changed gloves and shot down a Gu flask after 2 laps and had about 10 minutes of "this isn't going to kill me" before it got cold again. Rogers had to help me unclip."
AND you weigh half again what Martha does.
Leave the cold snowy races to the young, fat, and stupid Martha.
No that doesn't mean I'm calling you old.
Martha, when I decided not to race on Sat, I was thinking of you at a certain TST a few years back. I remember racing just b/c I was there and realizing how strong and smart you were not to race in those conditions. I promised myself that in the future I would be as reasonable as you.
It was still a struggle, but I just couldn't get that race (and the feeling of being so cold that I was happy to leave my bike with random people at a random corner to get in a car) out of my head. Thanks for the inspiration!
Shannon, I'm not sure that's the kind of inspiration I want to be, but I guess it's better to be left with a stronger desire to race next time instead of with pneumonia or exhaustion that takes 3 days to recover from.
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