Mt. Sunapee road race

A couple weeks ago, I went riding in the rain when it was cold, and things ended badly. You'd think I'd have learned...

I was planning a long, slow, easy ride. Then Darcy asked if I wanted to come watch Sunapee. I looked at bikereg to see what time it started, and next thing I knew, I was signed up. Lets keep in mind I haven't been training four weeks yet... Stephanie's description of this course is "you go around a round-about, then you go up a hill, then you go up another hill, then you go up another hill, you make a right turn, you go up a hill, you go up a wall, you go up a hill, and then you finish on an uphill". Great! So, I went up there with Giulia, the other cat 4 from IBC, and it was pouring rain. The whole way up. The temperature was up to 48 degrees by the time we got to Sunapee; we figured that was a good sign. The uphill finish didn't look that hard, so we were somewhat relieved. Warmed up on the trainer under an overhanging roof, and we decided we were ready to go. Rather than bore you with the details of racing in the rain, I'll bore you with a play-by-play of my thoughts while riding.

The gist is that Giulia ended up 4th, I was 7th, I think there were something like 30 finishers, and it was cold and wet. Anna Mcloon won the pro-1-2-3 race, easily. That girl is a house.

Anyway. My race:

I'm cold.

Daaamn I'm really cold.

Wow I do not feel like riding in the rain anymore. I wonder if I can drop out somewhere? Shit, there's Darcy. Gotta keep riding.

Ooh! a hill!

Shit my legs are all cramped up.

That NEBC girl just said something that sounded like code for "I'm going to attack". I think I'll follow her, she has a nice wide ass to draft off.

My legs hurt.

My hands are cold.

Oh good, Giulia came with me. The pack looks kind of strung out, I wonder if we're breaking?

Ooh!! I'm in a break! I'm in a break!

Wow, I just made it up another hill with the break.

Cool, I can ride with these girls, thats two hills. No sign of that pack.

Oof my legs hurt.

I'm not with the break anymore. Darn.

I could fight for it and time trial back up to them... shit my chain won't shift out of the big ring and I'm going uphill. shift! shift!

I guess I'll just wait for the pack and block for Giulia.

Where is the damn pack?

Ow my legs hurt.

This must be the wall Stephanie was talking about.

No, this must be the wall.

I'm freezing. When is the next dang uphill?

Ooh theres someone in front of me. Maybe I'll try to catch her.

When did my bike get so heavy?

I'm sopping wet. This sucks.

So as Giulia would say, I earned mad Belgian points. You get Belgian points for doing hardcore things, like racing in the rain when its cold out. I don't think I'll do another road race unless its sunny this summer. Because I think I have enough Belgian points to last me for a while. I wonder if those points come with Belgian beer and chocolate?