Bad race near Rotterdam - I'm blocked!!

Well another week has gone by and now it’s already into Wednesday – my how time flies like an arrow (and fruit flies like a banana…..thanks for that one Groucho :o) Outside of a dog, a book is mans best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read (thanks again Groucho – now get outta my head for a while!).

So after the last race I had a pretty good fever but still had to go spinning on Monday – I knew my legs would completely seize up if I didn’t. So I took a 1.5 hour spin with a couple small hills in it and really, I felt pretty good! My legs didn’t feel bad at all (a bit tired, but not NEARLY as tired as I expected them to be) and my cold wasn’t bothering me at all. But I knew with a fever it’s best to be off the bike, so I took the rest of the week totally off the bike (even driving into work……gasp! – sorry Geoff! :o)

So Saturday rolled around cloudy, cold, and promising rain. I wasn’t 100% yet after my cold but I was needed at the race (otherwise we’d be short a rider), so I decided this is what I’m here for, lets do it! Luckily it was a much easier day since the race was closer (just outside Rotterdam……which means FLATTER than the flattest flat mc-flat-pancake you’ve ever flattened), so Saturday turned out more relaxed than the previous weekend.

6 of us in the race, same routine as last time, but this race was a bit smaller scale. Still, it promised to be interesting. The big thing my teammates all said was to be in the top 40-50 riders when we hit the crosswind section, otherwise it’s game over. 50% of the peloton will drop out almost immediately (ok after 50km) because of the winds and the remaining riders will split into smaller groups, so you’ve GOT to be in the front groups or you’ll be chasing in vain all day.

So the race started and I was doing well enough staying at the front…..that was until we left the neutral start and the race actually started! BAM!! Suddenly I’m being overtaken on all side and there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s like I dropped an anchor – really, I must have been towing someone. But I managed to stay in the middle of the peloton until we hit the crosswind section, then the shit hit the fan.

I knew it was going to happen too – I just didn’t have any juice in my legs, my lungs felt clogged, and I didn’t have any energy overall. My heart rate wouldn’t get over 165bpm (that’s really bad – I’m used to racing at a 160 average with peaks 180-185). Something wasn’t right – and I mean REALLY not right. No matter what I tried I just couldn’t get warmed up properly, so slowly but surely I was being spit out the back of the peloton in a very ungraceful fashion. By 40 minutes into the 170km race I was done and dropped, and there was nothing I could do about it.

My only condolence was I wasn’t the first to get dropped – there was already a contingent of about 10 that hadn’t made it as far as me. So I still hammered away for 10 minutes (towing the others with me) in the vain hope the peloton would realize I wasn’t with them any more and they’d slow down until I caught up, but alas that future did not unfold. By the time I sat up there was only 1 other rider with me, and we immediately realized we had no idea where we were or where we were supposed to go. And rain clouds were moving in. And it was getting windy. And cold. Great – this day just got better and better.

As luck would have it the other riders spoke Dutch and was able to converse with the locals, who gave us completely mixed directions back to the start. To make a shitty story short, we made it back to the start area just as the rain started to come down – and wow, did it come down! Oh yeah – did I mention my bag of clothes (including my car key) was in the team car, which by this point was about 70km from where I was?? Yeah – wonderful day for yours truly.

My teammate managed a 9th place, another came 20th, and another 34th, so not bad overall.

So with my pride bruised but intact I headed home, intent on riding on Sunday. However Sunday turned out to be a similar day – very strange feeling in my legs, no energy at all, and no lungs – and my HR still wouldn’t go above 160bpm. Sign of being sick? Normally I would say yes, but I’ve never felt like this – ever. There’s just NO juice anywhere in my body, and when I tried to get my systems warmed up and working (blood delivering oxygen to the muscles, digestion delivering glucose to the blood stream, lactic acid being cleaned from the muscles, muscles working smoothly and properly, heart pumping blood well, lungs breathing in oxygen into blood stream, etcetera) there was no response. It’s like I’ve transported myself back to my first day of training this year when nothing was working and I had to slowly build everything from scratch. And the weirdest thing is my head and heart are TOTALLY into it right now – all I want to do is ride, but my body is saying no. I’ve really never had anything like this and I’m not sure what to do :o(

I just hope this clears up soon – I’ve got another interesting race (this one with a HILL!!!!) on Saturday, then 2 more races during the week next week. Shite – I hope I’m feeling better by Friday when I do my warmup ride for Saturday, or else I’ve got a big problem……