It all adds up to nothing in the end

This weekend was Iron Hill. It's been two years since I've raced here and I was looking to have a pretty good race on returning to the fast, flowing Delaware course. Things didn't look good from the second I woke up. My first thought when I opened my eyes Ssturday morning was, "I'm not going to this stupid race". It was the first time ever that I had truely not wanted to go to a race. Something inside me that morning just didn't want to go through the motions of a typical race day. I pushed through it, thinking that I just needed to wake up. I packed the car, grabbed some breakfast and headed down the road. I still didn't want to go. When I was almost there, I realized that the only reason I had gone to the race was because I felt like I had to. It felt like it was a job, something I couldn't not do. Weird...



The actual race report is nothing spectacular. I had a pretty bad start and went into the woods around 8th. I passed two or three people, got up to 5th or 6th, but couldn' t get up any farther. At the end of the first lap I was riding with Mike Yozell. Long story short, after telling him that I felt terrible and still had a 24 hour race next weekend, he advised me that I not finish the race. I rode one more lap and tried to find some rhythm but it didn't come and I dropped out.



I am, however, very excited for next weekend's 24 hour race at Seven Springs, PA. It should be a really really hard race, but for some reason I'm looking forward to it. Rob will be there, so it seems there is potential for a good race between the two of us. Nontheless, it'll be the hardest race I've done. Doing my first solo 24 hour race will be hard enough, not to mention that Rob's got his shit together at these things. I'm going into the race with a different attitude; hoping for everything, expecting nothing. It will probably be my last fully competitive race of the season and, honestly, I'm looking forward to that. I can't wait for winter to get here already. Lots of time off, recovering, hiking, and then maybe some long rides. Until then I'll be preparing for this weekend by doing nothing. I still feel like I'm only about 90 percent recovered from the 12 hour, so I'll laying around alot this weekend taking lots of naps and eating lots of food.

I'll trade you my burrito for your taco....