Hannah was in town for the Tool show, which rocked by the way, and Monday evening we rode up to Dog Lake. Nice to get out of the heat. Summer is here in full effect!
Nationals seems like a blur- I made it home Sunday afternoon just in time to get some Pearl preseaons in the system prior to an 8pm deadline, eat some pizza and head to Tool. Sandwich that in between some really busy work weeks, trying to recover from BC, general stuff to do, and trying to be a somewhat worthy boyfriend and time has been really flying by.
Sol Vista is a pretty cool place, though it looks like kind of a bunny hill as far as skiing is concerned. BZ had set up a killer condo and was kind enough to let me crash. They had Versus there so I could watch the tour which was sweet because we don't have cable.
I was pretty disappointed with how my race went, but in retrospect maybe shouldn't have had such high expectations. Although the course suited me and I was riding really well in BC, this race wasn't a priority for the season and I wasn't even 100% sure I was going until 4 days before. Work had been busy since BC and I wasn't resting enough. Then I picked up a cold after the Snowbird ICUP and was fighting it off all week. Training wise I had no idea what to do after BC to prepare for this race and just kind of winged it. That's the joy of being your own coach! Blah blah blah, excuses excuses. No, no my point here is that I really wanted a top 10 and had dreams of a few spots more, though I probably shouldn't have...
I got a good start and rode in 10th place briefly on the 2nd lap. I was riding with Jeremiah and Jay Henry but had pushed it way too hard on the lower part of the climb to catch them and blew up as soon as I had closed the gap. I passed JB and then commenced to explode. I backed off and tried to recover and slipped back in to 20th at one point. I was having some stomach issues and couldn't drink enough so I was just trying to conserve energy and draw off my BC base. I started to pass guys after a while and ended up 15th which is a solid result, especially considering I wasn't having a great day. Somehow I was still only 2 minutes out of 10th- which is all the more frustrating because it makes me think about how it would have gone if I was riding well.
Every now and then you have those races where you learn a few things and I feel like I took away a lot from this one about how to improve. That's what its all about and I guess why as racers we are never completely satisfied. I am sure it annoys people, especially Sammi, for example, who has to hear me think out loud on the drive home. But that's why we race- to do our best and if we don't feel like we gave it our best effort we are always going to be looking to improve. Its not that the glass is half empty, its that its half full and I want it totally full. Kind of trailing off here, its late and I have to get ready for OR tomorrow.
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