It took awhile to write another blog post because I became a bit brain dead after being in NYC for so long. After about a week I was ready to head back home. What overwhelmed me the most was dealing with the people-the sheer amount of people everywhere as well as those who shove, those who try to get your money, and those that can't understand what you are saying. Every time we went out we were solicited over and over again by the homeless, by people selling tickets to the bus tours, and by people just selling anything. I know that a family walking together through New York must have a huge stamp that says, "try and take their money" but it was tiring. I was torn between trying to go see some landmarks in the city and trying to just find some quiet corners. It was the tourist areas where it was the worst. We did learn how to kind of split up and not all walk together and other little tricks to keep some of it at bay. The next thing that kind of put me over the top was the amount of rats everywhere at night. One night Russ and I were walking back home at about midnight and I was about a foot away from the garbage put on the sidewalk for pick up when one of the bags moved. I jumped a mile and screamed like a little girl. I know I am a wimp when it comes to these things, but I will take our little field mice over a big, nasty rat any day.
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A sample of the amount of riders out on the 9W in
NJ on a Sunday morning. |
Now, with that all out of my system, I can say the cycling community is a beacon of light in any city. I contacted my new NYC cycling friend, John, to see if I could join in on a group ride and he was nice enough to put together a ride with some other local cyclists on Sunday. It was a nice ride through Palisades Parkway in New Jersey, which runs along the Hudson River. There were actual nature type things to see-like a little waterfall. It was really nice. No rats spotted. We also headed up the 9W,
a highway that is among the most traveled by cyclists in the U.S. I haven't seen so many cyclists out just riding recreationally on a road before. They kind of just dominate the road and make the cars figure out how to get past them all. There were four rows of bike racks at the coffee shop we stopped at in Piermont, and they were all chock full of bikes. New Yorkers do like their bikes, so I guess they all can't be that bad.
I did a few more Central Park rides, but mainly looked forward to returning and cycling at home. My first full day back I took out the mountain bike and did a fun ride on the VASA trail, just taking a meandering route through some single track and the main pathway. It felt great to be in the woods again. I keep looking around at our beautiful beaches and our downtown area with clear, rat free sidewalks and breathe a deep sigh of relief that I am home again.
Saturday morning I woke up feeling worse. I headed to the doctor to get some antibiotics, and I rested most of the day. I had the crit at 5:15 and at 3:00 I still felt sluggish so Russ went on a mission to get me a 5 hour energy drink. I was really desperate at this point for something to kick start myself. About 4:00 I started warming up on my trainer at home, and again my seat slipped up. I tightened it again, so hard that I thought I can't go much more and I didn't want to break my seat post. I continued my warm up and the seat held fine. I headed out the door to the starting line. I was there early this time, and was able to ride a lot of laps of the course before the start of the race. This helped with the jitters a little, although I knew I was in for one of the hardest races I've ever done. I was right, but not for reasons that I thought.
While the announcer was chit chatting, the official blew the whistle and we kind of clumsily started the race. I was about in the last 1/3 of the pack for the first lap. Around the second lap a large gap formed which turned into a break, and the back 1/3 got left behind. As I came around a corner I was starting to think of what I could do to get up there and assessing who was left in my group when my seat slipped again. It went up at a 45 degree angle. "Are you f'ing kidding me?" I was screaming to myself. I tried to stand up and push it back down with my hand but it wouldn't budge. I was quickly at the back of the pack and had to just stand up and pedal to keep with them. I sat back down, holding on to the handle bars for dear life as my ass was sliding off the back of my bike. I wondered if I actually could continue racing like this. I certainly couldn't stop to fix it. So, I kept on going. I thought that if I could just hang on and not get dropped, this would be an accomplishment. I heard so many cheers from the crowd during the race, it really helped keep me going. There were a few moments I thought that I might just quit, but it seemed the girls would just slow down at that moment which was too close to my breaking point. 
The main field overcame us on the final lap and we had a messy finish. But I finished! I was a bit delirious and definitely not looking very saavy (as seen below). At the end of the day I could at least say that I finished as I wobbled awkwardly back home. Got 8th place in the Cat 3 women and 30 bucks too. Here's to hoping the next race goes smoother! But yeah, shit happens. You can train all you want for a race, but sickness, crashes, mechanicals, anything can come along and mess up your plans for a good race. Nice thing is that there is always another race to go for. 
