First Stage Race: Lessons Learned

Three stage race this weekend. Against better judgement I went down with a group. While acting to defray gas costs and lodging costs, the annoyance inflicted by both questionable music taste and an excessive affinity for smoking weed far outweighed any benefits. In addition to feeling like an infant strapped in my car seat while my redneck mother chain smoked Camels with the windows up, it should be noted that pot smoking does not foster a sense of punctuality.

WARM UP: Five minutes of warm up before the TT is not good for one's performance...physically. Knowiing you blew the warmup becuase the group was smoking out in the hotel room instead of getting their shit together...bad mentally.

FOOD: When in the middle of bum-fuck nowhere, one does not have a lot of food choices. There was a Denny's, a place called the Old Mill, which was neither as cool nor as promising as the name would suggest. Add to that a Mexican restaurant with questionable hygiene and what do you have? A belly full of grease, cheese and burnt meat.

BIKES: Don't think you need to strap down that rear wheel on your bike rack? Think again. High winds and a decidely un-aerodynamic seat conspired to scare the shit out of everyone when my carbon beauty decided to take a pitch off the top of the van. Luckily, it stayed on the fork mount. maybe super light, isn't super good?

DOWNTIME: What better distraction than to go to Walmart and people-watch. Three bike races with shaved legs walking around Walmart, talk about standing out. Every single person that worked there weighed at least twice as much as I do. Among the depressing sites and sounds was a mom heard to say, "Put that back, we're going to Mconald's later!" and a man wearing a shirt that read, "Women want me, fish fear me". I'm not sure he was right on either front.