Halloween cross . . . and a minor concussion

Yeah, so how about that Halloween cross race at Washington Park?? I guess I should say something about that. Well, I liked my costume a great deal. I'm a fan of Halloween so putting that together in a rideable manner was a good time. The race itself . . . .well, not really a day that I want to remember for a long time. As always I started out really well but I just wasn't grooving along real well. I am just not a person who does well if the going gets easy. By that I mean I'm super slow on roads and flat sections. I'm good at things that are hard - like the run-up. That I liked. I know that sounds twisted but I've done a lot of run ups this year and so I've had the practice and I know what to do on a run up . . . go as hard as you can. Flat sections confuse my feeble brain and I end up going really slowly but thinking I'm riding really hard when I'm not.

Anyway, once I got lapped I lost all motivation to race. I thought I had put being lapped behind me for the season and had got fast enough that I no longer had to worry about that all the time. Guess I was wrong. I apologize to everyone who thought I was totally anti-social after the race. I was just taking a moment to reassess the meaning of life . . . and my racing. I'm totally over it now and am just going to take a lesson from that race . . . I must work on going hard when the course isn't hard and that I shouldn't let being lapped be a big deal. I knew that it would happen this season and it has and I know that it will happen again.

Anyway, life is funny in that I was down on myself for how I raced on Sunday but last night at the Henry Rollins concert a complete stranger gave me an extra ticket he had for free. That saved us $22 which totally rocked. Henry Rollins fans are good people. Oh sure, we tend to be a little angry but justifiably angry.

But life continues to be funny as sometimes kharma's a bitch. Today I left work a couple of hours early so I could enjoy the awesome 60 degree weather and some daylight. I rode out to Badger Prairie forgetting that the trails close on November 1. I decided to be a renegade and ride there anyway as it was too nice a day and I'd ridden too far to change my plans. I know, I know it's bad for biker's relationship with the parks system when we disobey the rules but the trail had only been closed for one day or so I justified it to myself. Anyway, I headed out on a lap of the course and I was flying down the slightly bumpy, steep downhill that is not too far after the start. The sun was really low so I couldn't really see the trail but I was taking the usual line I've taken a zillion times. In retrospect it's a bad idea to go really fast down a somewhat steep descent if you can't see where you're going. It seems that some critter decided to dig a hole right in the line I was on which was big enough that my wheel went into the hole and pitched me forward. I flew over the handlebars and hit the ground hard enough to pretty much make me see stars. I actually sat there for quite awhile before I even bothered to check on my bike. That's a sign of a hard crash. My head still hurts hours later and I'm a little off still. I'm not quite at the vomit stage, just a little queasy, so probably not seriously serious. The exciting part is that this was my first crash in which I hurt my "bad" knee. It's good to finally get that out of the way. So far the knee hurts a little and it was stiff on the way home. I stretched and iced so we'll see if it swells up at all. I think it's going to be okay. I think tomorrow my neck and back are going to be killing me.

Oh yeah, and riding on Halloween rocks. It's really fun to see all the decorations in the neighborhoods and see the kids out in their costumes. Plus all the kids are totally into people on bikes in costumes. If you didn't come then I guess you missed out - so there!