A local garage sale

Apparently I dug deep.....to find myself a 2nd place finish this weekend at Silverlake, I call it a good ass kicking through the sand and hills to FINALLY wake my legs up from a long sleepy cold morning. 

This face perfectly portrays my feelings for 45 minutes.  I really did just want to kick my bike and cry.  Unfortunately for me, I had to keep going since I am focusing on this series.  Luckily I did keep going because once my legs woke up, I crawled my way to 2nd place. 

To make (what felt like) a long race short, the start went like this:
Into the sand and I was body checked out of the line I thought I was going to be taking

The middle went like this:
Chain dropped a few times and I lost a few spots and seconds, can I quit?  Fumbled through the sand...many times, lost more seconds.  My legs felt like icicles, perhaps a longer warm up next time. 

The end went like this:
My legs woke up.  Maybe I can catch Kristi if I play it right through the sand and work hard on the up hills.  Okay I caught her.  Wow 2nd place is just hardly in front of me, maybe I can get her too.  Okay I caught her, now I just need to hold it off for this last half lap.  Oops sorry Mel, I nearly decapitated you with my foot as I clumsily tried to get through the sand.  Can this race be over, I am officially embarressed of my performance today. 

Sunday was one big CX lesson.  I am so embarressed and dissapointed with the way I rode yesterday, yikes.  Kristi said it best when she said she had to take advantage of my fumbling all over the place!!!!  Man...how embarressing!  What a terrible race.  It's dissapointing because having a bad race and finishing 2nd...wow that's not too bad.  I'm trying to not dwell on the past, and I am looking at every race as a learning experience.  Racing in such a tough category teaches me a lesson EVERY week, whether it's a lesson about cross or lesson for myself and how I respond to this type and level of racing.  I'm learning and figuring it out.  It's a slow crawl for me (maybe?) but it's happening, and I'm just happy to be improving with every year and every race. 

I have so much I need to work on that one season isn't long enough to satisfy the crave of cyclocross and desire to get better. 

I'm setting this goal for myself right now:
Save money, buy a new cyclocross bike next year, have no mechanicals, and have FUN. 

Sorry no pictures this week.  I am going to try to remember to bring my camera with me from now on, and then actually try to take pictures.  Next weekend I will be racing at Wooley Cross in Sedro Wooley on Saturday, but then Saturday night it's a bachlorette party for me for my dear friend GOPHER!!!!!  So no racing on Sunday for me, it would be a sloppy mess if I did.