Day 1 the new W.E.S. Race

Last year it was my favorite course (up there with MRC). This year? It was hands down the best freaking cross course i could have hoped for.

Wicked killer slight up hill start, wide sketchy grass turns, slickness. Power power power. Perfect. I woke up, followed my MRC prep pretty closely. Drank some coffee. made more coffee, (no i didn't stop at Dunkin or anywhere else, i drank my own stuff). Mixed up some more salted and vit-C boosted gatorade powder. And headed to the race. And yeah. I was READY to go. Cranked the RHCP on the way over. Specifically the 1991 release: Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Apache Rose got things started and Sir Psycho was thrumming through my head as i pulled the bike out of the car, stuck the Sidi's on and my lid over my awesome IBEX beanie. Rolled over to unload the first batch of coffee and water. Then hopped on the course for 3-4 laps of solid pre-ride goodness. I don't know if i can describe the absolute mental elation i had when the course proved to go up the hill. THANKS JOEL!!!! The longish power sections were fantastic. The rest ya could really get into a rhythm on. Just one of the sketchy 180 u-turn is sections on pavement. This. If any. Was a GeWilli course. Gimme some longer runs or a Putney style hill to run up and it'd be cross nirvana.

The snow was melting. Melting snow means water. Water means mud. Mud makes me happy. So, mentally absolutely charged to max. Legs refreshed from a week off save two stints on the bike and man i'm amped. Everything was great. Saw the 3/4 masters go off after the Cat 4 - re-affirming my choice to start with the 1/2/3 masters. Got my number. Headed up to the car to take off the requisite pre-ride attire of jeans. Pin on my number, suit up. sleeveless base layer and skin suit. DeFeet Blaze socks (best damn socks for cross EVER), and my old faded verge cycling cap. With the wet i put on the clear lenses. And i was ready to go. Almost. I needed that last element. My embrocation. Plain pure clean lanolin. Yeah. No hot sauce in it. No oil to thin it down. Just lanolin. I always start with the right quad, then go to hamstring then lower leg finishing with the knee before doing the left leg in the same sequence. It is a bit sticky but it works like a freaking champ in the wet. So i'm ready to go. But ya know, to be even more pro i stick on my old PI wind pants in addition to the required Warsaw jacket for the final pre-ride. While the 9am race is finishing up i get my wheels to the pit. Plunk em down. And cruise around waiting for the final lap. Hop in and get a lap plus a little in before heading to the line. Got a 4th wide ass row start. Got a brilliant good luck hug from Zank, Stevens wanted one to so we reached our long gangly arms over and gave a shoulder bit. Then big belgium dave got jealous and wanted one but he was too far away and it was virtual... Chafed But was lined up behind me,Clit... i mean Curtis was lined up in second row. Doonan was there. CTodd too. JD even squeaked in on the outside behind Stevens. This was gonna be a freaking blast. I didn't realize till later in the race that Mahk M had snuck into the race and started at the rear. I was amped, wired and ready to go. Whistle blew and i was off. Good start. wiggled outside and jammed. JD was going hard too, but i didn't blow it. I think i actually balanced for me just the right aggressiveness. Not too passive of a start to set a bad tone, not to hard to set the stage for a pack slide. Motor motor motor. The big diesel was loving it. Motor motor motor motor. Pass people through the sand, or pick up time. Create demoralizing gaps on the pavement with minor accelerations. Jumping through groups. People were going down. It was slippery as hell. I was feeling awesome... till the third time through the twisty cinnamon roll section up by the heated stinky pooper house. Hannah was there and gave me a cheer and then my rear washed a bit. I thought, cool, i'm right on the edge, i'm on fire, this is fun, i'm FLYING, lets got get that next group!

CRACK

in a millisecond i was on my side. The centimeter of mud on the frozen ground decided to stop holding my wheels at the moment i came around the tree. It happened so fast i was still holding on to the bike with both hands and clipped in with both feet. This was no ooh here slightly sliding out boom. It was railing, sticking, wham. 6'6" 195 pound dead weight hitting the frozen ground. I slid a bit before i got up. I was in excruciating pain. That hurt alot. I dunno if i've EVER hit something so hard. at least in a long time. Hip bone was on fire. All the muscles and connective tissue around the left hip socket were sending waves of needles, my shoulder hurt, my knee wasn't in great shape. The left lever was tweaked a few mm in. Noticeable but not after a little while. And my head hurt. I was painful painful painful. From there to the sand i was screaming and shouting at myself in cries of agony to try and get the pain out through sound. I couldn't follow the same fast line i had from there to the sand. I was nailing that section before the crash, afterwards i was unsteady. But. After a handful of guys went past i managed to pull it all back together and start racing again. But. The blood lust and confidence through the corners was gone. I was sissy-footing it through them. I still was jumping out of the corners as much as i could and powering through the straights. But on the last lap or next to last the gruppeto including wade came through. I probably screwed up a few times in a couple places, needing to go harder in the straight, get in front of them into the turns, but i wasn't. I was getting slightly gapped every twist and turn. I'd work my ass to get back on and generally did. But each turn it got harder and harder to get back on. Then Jack came by. Where the hell did he come from??? Coming into the gazebo round about i couldn't hang right on his wheel. I just didn't posses the mental strength at that point to over-ride the fear of the wet and slick corners. I had planned to get on his wheel and jump around once we hit the pavement. We hit the little off camber paved section, i was on his wheel... and then... he had a gap. I reeled a bit back coming through the off camber before shooting down to the pavement. But, he freaking railed the 180 pavement U-turn. Bill Doonan was on my heals through the turn (i told ya i was acting like a chicken on the turns) but i clicked up to the 49 and grabbed a handful of the Bontrager CX drops and cranked the fueling and the boost and launched in pursuit of Madden. He'd really extended the gap through the turn. Damn damn damn damn. Power power power power.... Closing closing... not enough. Put the finish line 30 meters further up the hill and that whole group was mine.

I was pumped. I felt amazing. Totally spent. Sore as hell. Not just the crash spots. My legs were telling me i pushed it and i pushed it hard. I stuck around for a bit to see if i could get placing. Not really knowing where i was but hoping for a pretty decent result. It certainly felt amazing. But i had to leave to get home before they posted. Racing home so my wife and oldest could go off for an important event. Little one and i hung out. read some books, but she kept inadvertently touching my hip and that was agony. Ouch ouch ouch. Got everything cleaned up. Fixed my phantom shifting. Yeah. My shifting was suspect and jumpy in the back (i changed cables going into wrentham - and it settled a bit during the race it seemed) washed the bike and myself and fought off a few cramps (bad sign) in the hamstrings and upper calf area.

When my wife got back we headed out on the beautiful day to the beach. We've got an amazing sand beach 1 mile from the house. So the puppy and the girls and my wife and i headed out for a walk. I dunno if it was a good idea or not. Seemed that maybe moving was better than sitting for healing. I think it was just a stretch of time that i wasn't drinking fluid and further climbing into the dehydration tank. Ran a bit with the dog, but mostly just let her pull me along. Gorgeous day. Got home. made some dinner. read a bit and then tried to sleep. Problem is i typically sleep on my left side. I landed on my left side. Ever major contact point with the bed on that side was sore. Not gonna happen. but. it didn't stop me from rolling over in my sleep at least a dozen times that night. Successfully waking me up every freaking time. When the alarm went off at 6am i was NOT ready to get up. But i did... and that's another story.