226 – Relativity

Well, it was bound to happen. I have had such success this season, so many great races, exceeded my own expectations so many times, that I was bound to fall short eventually.

Fast Laps # 4 was tonight at John Bryan State Park. I came straight from work, and for once had plenty of time to kit up, get my bike out and ready, and warm up. The result of having so much time, however, was that I wasn’t very focused when it finally came time to race. I had let myself get distracted just before the start by the arrival of my wife and some friends of ours, and rolled up to the starting line having thought not at all about what I was about to do.

Instead of laying down an assault on the first half mile of doubletrack, I was busy trying to get my head up to speed, and my GPS started, and my cycle computer reset. I hit Abracadabra, the first trail, fully discombobulated and without any real flow. I started to put the pieces together again by Great Scott, but by then my legs were reminding me of Monday’s session at running club, where I had completely blown up trying to stay with the fast guys. I pressed on as well as I could, until I started noticing my seat getting lower and lower. I had cleaned and reinstalled my seatpost and clamp the day before to get rid of a squeak, but had failed to tighten it down enough, and now I was practically hitting my knees on my chin with every pedal stroke.

I pulled over to let a couple faster riders pass, and used the opportunity to fix my seat. In my haste, I jacked it up way, way too high. I tried to just deal with it, but had to stop again as it was borderline dangerous. This time when I rolled out I noticed it was crooked. One more stop to straighten it out, and I was thoroughly frustrated. I finished the race as well as I could, but without the usual edge of competition, since I knew I had pretty well dorked my lap up already. I crossed the line in 48:57, 6th in the Sport class and nearly five minutes back from the winner.

I did my best to keep a positive attitude after the race, but in truth I was pissed. I hadn’t rested, focused or prepped my equipment properly, all things I normally do well. The problems in the race were all mine, and I felt like it had cost me a chance at a podium.

But when I got home, I gave myself a dose of perspective, along with my beer. I’d turned in what I felt was a crappy race, relative to my expectations. But relative to my times from last year, I had done well, given the problems. In fact, I had equaled my best time from 2012 to within a second. Not so bad for a crappy race, relatively speaking. And better still, I’ll have a chance next week to do it again, and apply the lessons learned today.