This has been a blog post that has kept me from writing blog posts for a while. The title says it all, but it wasn't easy to say or accept. Those who follow my blog know what that means to me. It's hard to say it because of the luck I needed luck to make it happen. I've come to terms with it now. Perhaps two years in a row of inopportune flats in the same race meant I was "owed". Maybe it's more likely that if you just keep trying long enough eventually something works out. Maybe it makes no difference whatsoever. At this point it's simpler than that stuff. I simply rode my best race and the results were the results. The luck aspect of it is nothing to me anymore but that doesn't mean I don't desperately want to back it up next spring.
I was beat at mile 65. A long series of hills after the checkpoint saw the field literally exploding. I had worked to create that explosion but by the end of the steepest of those hills it was clear that 4 riders had a little bit more climbing ability than I did right then. Beat or not I absolutely put out everything I had between there and the line. A group formed behind me but they were soon out of sight and forgotten. Eventually, I would catch those 4 riders 25 miles later only to be dropped again on Oriole. Then I would find myself ahead of them. I don't know how far they went the wrong way. I know that when they came back into sight behind me and I realized that I was leading that it was not something I would relinquish. By the end the gap was very small. I don't know if I could have done it had the line been any further way. As it was I was taking things in small pieces the way you do when climbing a mountain pass. The pavement is only 1 more mile.... the next turn is right there... get to the bike path, you can't be beat if you make it to the bike path...
I doubt I'll ever finish another race and be immediately interviewed by a television camera!
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