Race Fiasco. Feeling stupid.
I was psyched to race the Meat Pie Tri in Natchitoches , Louisiana but had a major race fail.
Went the wrong way on the bike, crossed over the Red River, hit one of the bridge expansion joints really, really hard. Remember thinking... "uh oh, that was really hard, I bet I get a flat". I also remember thinking "Wow, I can't believer they didn't tell us about that part of the bike course". Rode a little further, had a flat. Crap.
Up until that point I thought that the people in front of me were just far ahead and the folks behind hadn't caught up yet. Thinking I would tell someone on their way back in to send out sag, but then realized I had missed a turn and was off course. What an idiot.
I've NEVER gone the wrong way in a race. 30 years now, not one single time. I saw a couple volunteers at the corner where I was supposed to turn, but both of them had their heads down looking in their bags by their chairs and I guess they didn't see me. No one screamed out, "your going the wrong way".
Made it almost 5 miles out onto the bike course. Started walking back and thinking, this is going to take me two hours. Finally flagged down a truck and a nice guy gave me a ride. He said he was a cyclist too. One of the other trucks I tried to flag down just waved at me.
I used to always carry a can of "fix-a-flat" in races, but a couple years ago threw it to a friend on the bike course in a race and never replaced it. Guess what came in the mail the other day.... you got it.
When I got home and changed the flat, this fast air probably wouldn't have done the trick for this flat though. There were 4 punctures from the rim, top and bottom of the tube.
One more chance to redeem myself this year at the Hub City Hustle (formerly Mighty Magnolia Tri) in Hattiesburg, MS on the 18th. Physically my body is telling me it's ready for the off season. Pretty much everyone I train with is finished for the season. Hope to have a good race in a couple weeks and then dial it down and rest a little and recharge the batteries!
