The day that will live in infamy....

 I was really hyped going into UCI race this weekend. Lots of short power climbs with cobbles, fun terrain, and a really prestigious list of past winners. I was feeling good and had a good idea of where I needed to be at almost all times, thanks to a well planned recon ride earlier in the week that took us over all the climbs and through most of the tricky sections. We arrived at the race on time with everyone in good spirits and the weather cooperating nicely. As we began to change into kits, apply oils, balms and chamois cremes, pin numbers, I came to a rather horrifying realization....... I have no shoes. Little did I know that this was merely the beginning. 

After relaying my discovery to the Directors and the team we began looking to piece together a set of spare shoes and cleats that would work. Luckily I had one teammate with the right cleats and another with the right size shoe so there was a last moment shoe assembly and then it was off to the start line. Now although I was discouraged at this point, I had not given up and was still feeling up to the task at hand even if it meant destroying my knees via different cleats and shoes. So off we went.

The first few kilometers were flying along just fine and I was sitting comfortably about 15-20th wheel when around 5-7k out of nowhere I hit something....... hard. I'm still not exactly sure what it was but my best guess is either large pot hole or drainage grate. Regardless, the impact sent one of my water bottles exploding off into the group, rotated my handlebars so far down to the point that I couldn't safely reach the hoods, and pinch flatted my rear tire..... F$%*!!!!!!!!!

After instantly loosing my position and rolling back to the caravan with right hand held high, I found the car and instantly exclaimed "I think I need a bike." After a fairly speedy change I was returned to the caravan but instantly noticed that the shifting was not even close to decent. After moving up one or two cars and then falling back a few times I was starting to feel all of my efforts in my knees and in these alien shoes. Then I saw the team car on the side giving a wheel to one of our riders..... "ok, here I can help" I thought. Even if I'm shattered I can still help a teammate get back in the race and contribute some to this race. After passing the car and Peter (the other rider) I slowed a bit and shifted to the small ring for a small hill. As i saw Peter approaching I went to start climbing the gears and pick speed back up to make my effort for him. However, once I tried to shift into the big ring the response was not the expected one. Instead of finding a bigger gear, all I found was a handful of brakes. Once, twice, three times......fuck! seriously!?! four, five...... Peter shoots by on the back of a team car giving me a confused look at 65k/hr, I'm still going backwards. Six, Seven. Then finally around the eighth try I got the gears I had need about 45 seconds ago, but by this point I was well towards the back of the cars and would remain there until roughly 50k into the race when I was pulled. I later found the the cause of the braking in place of the shift to the big ring was being caused by an extremely tight brake that would catch every time I tried to shift.    

After my return to the team bus I was more frustrated and disappointed with my self than I have been in a very long time. All errors were on my behalf and I was awarded the remainder of the day to reflect on them in solitude with aching knees. Yup, I have now had my worst race day ever. So it can only get better from here.... right?

Although I myself had the day from hell, our team did very respectable with four finishers out of six and three of those finishing in the front of the peleton, one of which was top 25 out of roughly 200. My only regret is that my mistakes prevented my from being able to contribute to their finishes, or mine. 

tomorrow is another day.....