We are back in Phoenix for another weekend of racing that started today with the "Super D", basically a cross country, slightly downward sloping time trial. It was short, but long enough to really hurt. More on that in a minute...
This weekend is sort of a stage race. I say "sort of" because they made everyone register for all the events but you don't have to actually race all of them to get scored individually in each event. You only have to do all of them IF you are concerned with the overall weekend results. This is slightly annoying because they didn't tell us this until we got here, forcing everyone to register for the entire weekend of racing. This wouldn't be such an issue except the cross country, the event I came here for, is last. AFTER I am worn out from two days of racing events that I don't really care about or focus on. Hmmm, we'll see what I decide...
All of this is magnified by the fact that I seem to either be allergic to the desert or I have a cold. I thought it was a cold except EVERYTHING is blooming out here and everyone (even those who don't have allergies) seem to be having a tough time with things. I have never been allergic to anything but the last two days I seem to have low grade cold type symptoms. They aren't getting better or worse, which leads me to the allergy thing. I guess I won't know for sure until I get home. If it goes away immediately, it was allergies. If not, I have a cold. Either way, racing is miserable. I am hacking and snotting EVERYWHERE. Tons of fun for everyone around me.
So, back to Super D. I went out to the race site unsure if I was going to start or not. I did a pre-ride of the course and decided that we were still two days from the Cross Country and a 20 minute effort might do me good. The plan was to take it a bit easy but have fun with it and see how my body responds to the intensity. OUCH. I started too easy and by the time I realized it I had to bury myself to try and make up for it. My legs felt good but my lungs were burning. I did not put out what I would call a stellar time but I did alright, taking 37th. We had a big field so it was not too bad, again, just not where I wanted to be. Oh well, Super D isn't why I came here.
Tomorrow is Short Track and I have decided to not race it. That was a tough decision for me; I enjoy Sort Track but with my health being questionable and the race being 15 hours before the start of the Cross Country, I am trying to do the mature thing. I am a competitive person by nature (anyone who knows me is laughing right now at my ability to state the obvious), so it is ALWAYS hard to decide to not compete. However, I will be really mad at myself if I race STXC and then have nothing on Sunday for the XC. I will spend tomorrow cheering for my friends and husband and doing an EASY ride. BORING.
On another note: Mike had a KILLER Super D today, taking 13th in the Semi-Pro field, even after hitting a Jack Rabbit. Go Mike!!!
I guess it has been raining non-stop back home. My teammates were all planning on racing Tsali but being that Tsali is the worst course on the planet in the mud, they are all either finding a road race or staying home. It is supposed to rain all weekend so even the road racing may suck... Sorry guys, I miss you but I don't miss that weather!!!
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