Got to Look Park early on Saturday. Set up the tent. Posted up next to the Hup tent to make a sweet duplex. Took a few laps. Was totally chill. No nerves. No stress. Lined up at the back, ready to go. Whistle and we're off..... about 10 pedal strokes in, I am grabbing two handfuls of brakes and flying through the air. Tangled bikes. Deep breathes. Remount and back at it. Look down and I can see a cut on my leg. Catch back on for the lap one traffic jam at the run up. The run up was pretty chewed up this year, but the left side seemed to be the fast lane.
Course was fast and fun. But you were doomed if you let gaps open. The wind and the watts would conspire to leave you alone. I managed to crash at the little pavilion thing on the top of the course and twist my bars about 45 degrees-which I didn't realize til I was flying over them after remounting. Tip,take a second and examine your bike before jumping back on. 2nd to last lap, I manage to stack it in the sand pit, to complete a trio of crashes. So now, I have a face full of sand and a couple more laps to go. Coming into the barriers I hear everyone screaming about a hand up that has just taken place. I look up and there is Nick riding with something in his hand. I was afraid it was food, but dragged myself up to him to see if there was any liquid. BEER! Success. He gladly handed me the remnants of his beer and we enjoyed a mid race drink. He pointed out we were about to get lapped, and I was bummed and resigned.
My lack of form this season, forced me to reevaluate my goals and "finish a Verge race without getting lapped" had creeped to the top of the list. So I mustered my final few watts and managed to get across the start finish without being lapped. Sort of a Pyrrhic victory as that got me almost another 10 minutes of racing. But hey, set a goal and accomplish it. Then feel good.
When I finished up and rode back to our bum village both Nick and Billy looked at my leg and said way too calmly, "You should probably have the medical people look at that.." So I waked over and interrupted the EMTs lunch to get cleaned up. Looked nasty, but NBD in the end.
So that was day one. I turned myself inside out not to get lapped after crashing within 10 seconds of the start of the race. Finished 128th which was better than that stinking race predictor said I would!
As far as day two, maybe one of the other dudes will chime in. For me it was about the same minus the crashes.
I came into this weekend feeling a little burnt out. Not sure if it was the sun, the taco truck,the NECX, or what, but I felt pretty recharged and stoked coming out of it. As a wise man said, CFR! Thanks to everyone that made this race happen.
