By Matt
This was my first Wednesday at Wakefield after having missed the real first W@W due to a heavy workload back in early July.
My training plan calls for a big day on Wednesdays, so naturally this race fits the bill. However, last week my big day was a zero because skipped my normal morning ride to stay rested for W@W but then the rain came and washed my plans away. I normally join the Squadra Coppi team for their HON ride (Hills of North-Arlington) on Wednesdays which is a tough 4-hill sprint workout over about 1.5 hours. Yesterday’s weather called for 40% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, so I went to the Coppi ride hedging my bets so that if W@W got cancelled, I’d at least have a strong 2.5 hour workout in the AM. That set the stage for no rain and a tired me. I didn’t fuel up during the day very well, but was psyched to get back on dirt after several weeks of riding only on the road.
I Made the commute to Wakefield in a respectable 45 minutes (still can’t believe people do that every day). Warmed up for 20 min and lined up. I started blathering to Evan, pre-gaming with excuses as to why I would do poorly when the siren sounded.
We plowed up the gravel, I didn’t feel like I would die which was new for that start. I Was in a relatively good spot for much of lap one. I rode close to Kent for most of it, sometimes behind, sometimes in front. I did some friendly encouraging as some guys pulled away from us.
Then I ate it on a very easy flat curve in the straightaway along 495. The fall was fast and hard. I smacked the crap out of my knee and was bleeding. A blade of grass was stuck in the wound, I kept looking down “is that bone? is that bone?” no just grass, it didn’t hurt that bad. I caught back up to Kent and one of the other 5 people who passed me after I bailed.
After lap one, I started feeling tired. Not the ‘wow this is tough tired,’ rather the ‘yawny- I have no energy for this’ tired. I managed to stick with Kent for about 1/3 of the second lap. He egged me on with words of encouragement along the creek but I was cooked, and then I just cracked and dropped back. I blundered through the woods, and fell again on a switchback, SUPER lame. I just rolled off the bike and onto the ground like a goofball.
At some point I took off my super dark glasses because the woods sections were to dark for those. In a shaky ungainly way, I stuck the glasses into my rear jersey pocket. They’re gone now, if anyone finds some nice Smiths on the trails at Wakefield, hook me up? I rolled through laps 3 and 4 at an ‘endurance’ pace and finished happily in lucky 13th after 3 falls, a lost pair of sunglasses, a bloody knee and pleasant cruise through the woods.
I think it might be good to skip the Coppi ride next time, but then, what would my excuse be? Did I mention that I had a lot of fun? It was great riding with fellow CBers as well as the usual folks out there. Next week I’ll hit Killroy’s post race.