Deja Vu

You'll never guess how I placed at yesterday's Kisscross race! (At least this time they had my prize labeled appropriately.) After that very vehement post from the Caledonia race, I went out and did exactly the same thing. I didn't bother to train, and I proceeded to race anyway. What's that saying about the definition of insanity again? Oh yeah, it's doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
I talked myself out of racing yesterday multiple times, mostly because this particular race was my most shameful last year and due to the aforementioned dilemma of lack of training. During last year's race at Richmond Park, I was actually in a lot better shape. It looked like it was going to be my best race of the season. I went out strong, and was near the back of the pack (but not at the end or far off the back of the pack like I have been lately). Then something happened. We came to this sketchy (in my mind) downhill and I couldn't ride it. I walked it on each and every lap and got more and more behind.
I was meeting a friend who lives in Grand Rapids after the race, so I finally decided I might as well go to the race. I loaded all my gear into my car and determined on the drive over there that I was just going to watch. It would be foolish for me to race again.
When I arrived, I looked at the area where the sketchy downhill had been and saw that on this year's course, it was an uphill. That made me feel better. I registered for the race, thinking I could still bail and I would only be out $15, which wasn't that big of a deal. Then I figured I might as well ride part of the course and see how it was. It didn't seem that bad.
Our friend Frank was there, and he gave me some tire advice again, which I took this time. At that point, I was about 25% sure I was going to race. I lined up for the start, figuring I still had time to jump ship. Then our friend Anne, who is awesome and hardcore, came by to offer me encouragement. At that point, I realized I had to at least start the race, but that if it had to be my first DNF, so be it. I also thought that as long as I wasn't getting my butt out riding, I might as well ride during the race since I had gone to all the trouble to get my bike gear on. Even if I only treated the race as a training ride, it would be one more training ride than I had done previously.
When Rick announced the race would be four laps, I cringed, but told myself I didn't have to do all the laps. I finished the first lap way off the back of the pack, but not feeling too bad. At that point, I figured I might as well finish, even if it took me a long time, so I did.

So, I'm going to make a serious vow, right here and now, for my two (four?) loyal blog readers to see. As much as I berated myself about not training after the Caledonia race, I still didn't do anything about it. The next Kisscross race is two weeks from yesterday. I will not vow to be in phenomenal shape for it, because that's unrealistic. I will, however, vow that I will do multiple training rides (let's say at least 5) between now and then.

There's one last thing I want to mention about yesterday's race. Normally, I don't have anything bad to say about these races, because everyone tends to be really nice and encouraging. But yesterday, toward the end of the race, I had a really bad experience.

Rick tends to discourage people from pre-riding the course while the C race is still in progress, but since I'm so far from the pack, I usually have a few people riding with me during my last lap. Usually, they're very respectful and say encouraging things as they pass me. Yesterday, I had a man and a woman in full Giant kits pass me near the finish line. The woman spoke to me, so I know they saw me.

Now I know this race isn't timed or anything, and I was already taking a ridiculous amount of time to finish, but as they got closer to the finish line, they slowed way down, and were just sitting in front of me blocking the finish line. It didn't look like I could pass them and stay between the finish cones, but as I started to try to go by them, the woman did something that added insult to injury.

I have never in my life seen a woman do this, although I have seen plenty of guys do it. You know how you can push one nostril in and shoot snot out the other nostril (presumably, this is seen to be preferable to using a tissue)? The woman did this just as I was passing her. I was not only disturbed because it's a disgusting practice, but also by the fact that it sprayed me in the face. Not a nice ending.