The Weekend that Wasn't

The weekend the wasn’t……….Ok, I should say the race weekend that wasn’t. Let me explain. So far the cross season has started off with a bang, a real big bang. CrossVegas, Cross after dark in St. Louis, and then off to Madison WI for the first round of the USGP series. It’s been a little bit crazy for a variety of reasons on top of the team duties and we only have one weekend off before we head to Ft. Collins, CO for second round of the USGP. That's not much time to get caught up around home and with the team as well. As you might guess priority number one was to get caught up with what’s going on with the family and school and maybe even get a little work done around the house.  Second on the hit list was figuring out what needs to be fixed after last weeks mud race. Mud is the great destroyer of cross bikes so the list was long. Of course we are still gluing up tires and figuring out our wheel situation. Such is life when the road team uses the wheels up until a week before Vegas.

I had really hoped  that it would be a little slow around the shop last week so I would have some time to get caught up with other things but it was not to be. I had forgotten that the Tour de Bar-b-que was happening on our off weekend. We had tune-ups, overhauls, you name it , all week. Bad timing for me for sure but I’ll never complain about the work, especially going into the slow season. So I had little or no time to get anything done on the team bikes during the week  and then another issue creeped into the mix. Out of the blue on Tuesday my knee started swelling, I was at work and by the middle of the day my knee woundn’t  bend enough to test ride bikes. To say that I was a little freaked out would be an understatement.

So we roll into the weekend and I was scheduled to race day one of the Boss Cross  series  here in KC. I was a little nervous  about racing for a number of reasons. One being the fact that Mathgeek had quarter end at work so I was running solo with the boys. Another was that I only had one bike due to the fact that other one was still shelled from Madison. Of course the biggest issue was the balky knee. 

Now I’ve been to the venue where the race was happening and I know it’s not a family friendly course.  There is no parking at the course so you have to park at a school a quarter mile away and use a walkway to get to the course. So we arrive at the course to find a huge line at registration and nowhere to park. I decide to park at  school and ride over to the course while the kids stay at the car. It’s an hour and a half before race time, I figured I had plenty of time to register and pre-ride the course. But after 30 min of waiting in line with little movement I had to get back to the car and check on the boys. Since the boys were ok I went back to give registration another try. Once again the line was long so I set my bike back down in the same place I had left it before. So now it’s less than an hour to race time and the line is just as long and it’s not moving so I decide to pre-ride a lap of the course and come back. The sand runs were going to be long and that’s just not what the doctor ordered for a bad knee. So I come back to registration and the line is just as long. Again, I’ve been gone a long time and need to check on the boys so I ride back to the car. So three times I’ve come and gone from the registration line leaving my bike in the same place every time, remember that fact.

So as I’m leaving I spot a place in the ditch next to the venue that I can squease the van into. Off I go to the van, throw my bike in the back, strap in the boys and move out. We get the coveted parking spot and now its 30 minutes until race time. I jump out of the van and walk over to registration to find the person I was standing behind earlier now 10-15 people from the front of the line, still moving slow.  In my mind the great debate was raging. Not warming up was going to be an issue and running in the sand was going to be an even bigger problem. So I waited, and debated, and waited some more, and got even more stressed out. All of the time wondering what my boys are up to.

So I finally get my number about 10 minutes before race time. With my mind reeling I walked over to where my left my bike and it wasn’t there. I was sure where I left it............. but it was gone. Maybe Bill thought it was my back up bike and took it to the pit or maybe someone just picked it up by mistake. I was sure it wasn’t stolen but where was it? Perplexed, I stood there looking for it before walking back to the van............................ and finding my bike in the back. Duh………..

Emotional meltdown, you bet. I loaded everything up and headed for home. No race today. But in the end it was all for the best. The boys and I went home and had a great day together. We got some things done around the house that needed to be done and had time to play and jump on the trampoline and generally goof off. In the end I guess I just needed to get away from the race scene for a weekend and be a dad. Glad I did.

So am I bummed about not racing, sure, I love to race. Was it for the best that I didn’t race, yep, no doubt about it. At this point I’m three days away from heading out to Ft.Collins and round 3/4 of the USGP series and I'm pretty relaxed. My knee is slowly getting better and I'll just do what I can.