Opus Crit- Week Two

This evening it was 40 degrees and light rain... some of it was maybe freezing. Another Tues. night crit. I normally don't mind rain, but it was cold cold.

Things started off on the wrong foot when I made it home from work and realized I'd left my checkbook in my office- with my racing license. I found an old license and printed off an info page from their website. I was running a bit late, and traffic was a disaster.

There was a huge line at registration. As I waited, standing in the 40 degree windy rainy weather, I contemplated leaving. My hands and ears were cold, and I was still in civilian clothing. If I left now, someone might see me... I better stick around and pray they won't accept last year's license.

By the time I registered, they didn't even ask to look at my license. Usually they ask to see it twice- once for the money, twice to sign up for the individual race(s). That was too easy. I took my time getting ready, contemplating what to do for a warm up. At least the rain let up. I rode around a bit and headed over to the starting area.

As we were waiting for the first race to finish, a teammate was asked about last year's wreck, and he went into excruciating detail about breaking his pelvis on this same course- exactly a year to the date if I remember correctly. I didn't need to be hearing that, so I rode around a bit more.

Our race finally was ready to start. Only 19 of us were stupid enough to show up. We took a slow practice lap and line up. When we started, we took a very slow first lap- like people were discussing what they did over the weekend- slow. The wind blew right through me. I regretted not using glove liners. The second lap perked up a bit to launch into the third, which was a points lap. A few sprinters shot off the front for the points. Knowing this course, they'll wait up for us on the other side, which they did. By this point, my fingers weren't quite functioning right, and shifting became a matter of will. I couldn't really see what was going on, and there was some discussion whether there were still two guys off the front. We lapped a few guys, then late in the race encountered two guys riding off to the right. I was confused- not that it really mattered. The finish was uneventful- as only the top three places counted. I collected my jacket and headed to my car, chilled to the bone.

I decided that I don't mind cold, and I don't mind rain- but I do not like cold rain.