Stacking the failures

A pretty sweet shot in my one completed race lap by Ben. See the rest of them here.

I’ve had a pretty tough past week when it comes to my cycling and competing, though it’s nice to get a lot of it off my chest. First, Sunday was the Pittsburgh Tri that I backed out on, becoming my first DNS in competition. To make up for that Sunday I took the Cannondale out for nice 50 mile spin to and through my new neighborhood and while attempting to make the new commute downtown got a bit lost still out in MD. While realizing this fact I got my first flat in well over a year, though luckily I brought CO2 and a spare tube with me and changed it out before continuing the ride home.

Wednesday was W@W #3 and I picked up a flexcar and drove out there for the race, feeling too lazy to have to ride and metro home afterwards. In the morning I thought to myself my tire pressure was a bit low, but I decided not to take the time to fix it and just rolled to work. Then before the race I was sitting thinking I was probably going to flat with the pressure I had and what made it worse was I didn’t bring anything to fix or change a flat, much less the tube necessary for it. Of course as the first lap come to a close I felt my shock bottom out over a rock and knew I was done for. It happened a couple of times actually but finally as I finished the final big climb of the lap the flappity flap of the flat was finally there. So, within a week I got my first DNF as well as my first DNS. What a crappy week.

Gary got some more sweet shots from this week's race, including this one of me sporting the new Fat Cyclist pink jersey.

The race had started off relatively poorly on the dry course as I struggled to get a grip and pass people during the beginning sprint. The remainder of my ride was going pretty well however and I probably passed a good 7 or 8 people prior to my flatting out. I took off right after I dropped out and didn’t see it, but it looks like the guy who was in the top spot for the overall points was the winner so it looks like he has it all but locked up at this point. I don’t think my 12 points are going to hold me a spot in the top ten for the overall. Dang.

I did get an extra shot by Ben while riding my pre-race warmup lap. Pretty sweet shot. I think there was also a video of me walking degectedly away from the race after my flat somewhere. yay...

The next morning as I got ready to roll into work I realized my tire on the Cannondale was flat again as well. Tonight I'm heading out to get some new tires; hopefully this weekend at Giro di Coppi I'll have a little bit better luck!