4 days too late

Self Portrait


In 2001 I did my first mountain bike race. It was the Mt. Snow NORBA finals, I was riding a 400$ bike and wore a cotton t-shirt for the race. I signed up in the beginner's category, we had to do 1 lap, but it felt epic. I was leading the race and with about 2 miles to go I flatted my front wheel. But all I could think of was that I needed to finish, so I kept riding. I must have crashed 50 times, but I was able to save a 10 sec lead and won.

In 2005 I entered my first NORBA race in the Pro category. The race was at Tapatio Springs Resort in Texas. The course was fun, but 3 days of rain made the course epic. I was pumped, though, and I enjoyed the muddy conditions for most part. Then, in the latter part of the race I lost my concentration for just a second and crashed into a tree. I blacked out for a second or so, heard some cracking sound in my neck and my right arm got all tingly for a moment. I kept riding, even though I knew something was screwed up in me. I just didn't want to dnf in my first Pro race. A few hours later I was diagnosed with a fractured C6 vertebra and some other smaller broken bones. But I finished the race.

I was riding stage 4 and 5 of the E 100 today, I just wanted to see what I missed out on this past Saturday. I turned myself inside out to ride at the front of the race. The lead gave me such an adrenaline rush that I might have made a rookie mistake by forgetting to eat enough. When I dropped out after about 6 hours, I was done. I stopped because I was starting to get dizzy, and even 5 min after I stopped, my hr was still hovering around 170. I don't think I was ever closer to a heat attack then on Saturday. Anyway, I'm not looking for excuses, but I'm still pissed I didn't have it until the end.