Oh, the Irony! Skibby's been replaced.

Today, I paid for my comments from yesterday (concerning quitting). I woke up this morning with pain all over. I'm pretty sure it was mostly from the cross race, but I don't think the waterskiing and wakeboarding helped. I desperately wanted to skip today's race, but I committed with Painman. I won't leave my wingman. Jordan decided to come with too, but not racing today.

Painman (removed the "in" since I seemed to have that covered today), and I rode the course a few times to warm up. My legs felt terrible. The course included riding a lot of grass (including off-camber sections), a sand volleyball court, 2 sets of double barriers, and another barrier prior to a steep run-up. Bottom line, it felt really slow, and required 3-4 dismounts each lap. The strong South wind was no help either. Below is a shot of Painman at the barrier prior to the run-up.



I was gapped right from the start. I had no snap in my legs to match the typical fast start. I caught back up at the sand pit, but then they just rode away from me. Just after entering the woods, some wiseguy yells "you miss the start?" Gee, thanks. How heavy do my legs look?



I just couldn't get going. I think Doug caught me after about 5 laps. I endoed in the sand pit, and gave up on trying to ride through it after that. I was watching the gap to Painman, and it seemed to grow each lap. My legs kept getting heavier each time over the barriers, and not being able to shoulder the MTB made the run-up and sandpit that much tougher for me. I don't remember feeling this bad in any race, ever. I kept thinking just don't stop.

Doug caught me again with 5 laps to go. He was flying. Everytime someone passed, I'd try to stay with them, but just couldn't. I hardly taxed my cardiovascular system at all during the race, my legs were just completely gone. Thankfully, Doug actually caught me for a third time just before the finish, ending my anguish 1 lap earlier than expected. I'm pretty sure almost everyone except Painman lapped me, and he was close too.

My emotion at the finish was mixed. I could live with finishing last, but it was really hard for me to accept being so far off the pace. Met up with the girls at Chili's for a post-race lunch, and then went shopping with my daughter. Then we went and played a little tennis, just to finish me off. My 39 year old butt is worn out!