i did the rock

my opportunity to race today was a bit bittersweet. john went to bed last night with a stomach bug and it continued on well into today. he was in no condition to race. he didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to hang with race fans and visit with the sun and shade for a few hours so we loaded up the kids, ourselves and all other necessary items for our first race day. we busted out a little after 8am and made it to rockford in just under 2 hours.
we parked next to some familiar faces- angie, russell, bubba, gina and tom.
jesse rode up and informed us of the long line at registration. boo. so i hurried and dressed and waited in line for what felt like a half hour. luckily they delayed the start by a half hour because of all the people registering.
i lined up all the way in the back and chatted with angie. i had no expectation on the day other than to finish and have fun. all the 10-miler peeps coming back said it was really muddy.
we were off. i felt fine, my legs felt fine but then a few miles in my back was hurting. i tried to ignore it but any pressure on the pedals and i felt i had to stop. i pulled off to do quick stretches, i stood on the bike and stretched. nothing seemed to work. finally being super frustrated i got off the bike entirely and stretched the shit out of my back, legs and arms. i felt a little bit better and was able to pedal. came through by john and the kids and hoped lap 2 was better. up until this point i hadn't had any fun yet. which to me is usually a why bother then, but i'd be lying if i said i'm not disappointed if i dnf.
the long stretches of mud sucked. literally. each step was a step closer to losing a shoe. i could feel it suction my foot at times. i'd be able to ride for a few feet and then just stall. hop off and start hoofing it. i fell in the mud once. of course in front of ron. it was a short section i hoped i could clear but a stick wedging its way out stopped me dead in my tracks as i couldn't get around it. my back didn't hurt so much this lap for some reason. i could feel it but it wasn't stopping me from pushing the pedals. at times i felt the pain almost making a come back, but it didn't. note to self: make appt with chiro tomorrow.
i'm not ripping on rock cut but there wasn't one spot on the course i looked forward to. well, okay, a couple of the downhills were pretty fun. but really i don't know if its the way i felt or what.
it was a good race to get the bugs out. going over that first log over i scraped my chainring. it didn't help that there were 8 people trying to go over it with me, but regardless its nice to get that timing back for the year. my legs felt great up until the 2 hour mark. not sure if i was cooked or just hungry? i'm sitting here and my legs don't hurt and didn't hurt after like they usually do after a race, so i'm thinking i may have just been hungry. i'm not used to racing for over 2 hours that's for sure.
ben apparently didn't take one of the log overs too well and his arm was slinged up as we left. hope all is okay.
my legs felt good, my back didn't, lungs felt fine, my stem is too high- need to flip back over, i missed my bar ends, i hadn't had a chance to change my grips and i really missed my old ones. hopefully i'll have all this dialed so i can enjoy myself at iola.
it was good seeing everyone again. i love race season.
p.s. and no camera. the battery was still in the wall at home. better luck next time.