Good Choice.

View from the Croton Bridge.  

For those that did not already know, I did not race this past Sunday at the Chainstretcher.   It was a very last minute decision- so last minute that I changed my mind at the entrance to the door of registration. 

It had rained a little the night before.  Just enough to make the roots a bit wet and slippery but that was only part of it.  As I pedaled from the parking lot up to the registration area, I kept trying to ignore the ache in my hand.   I was getting a tug in my gut and not like race day jitters sort of tug either.  More like, what am I doing? Then I saw a friend of mine who happened to be there the day I crashed.  He looked me up and down, saw me in my biking clothes, noticed my hand all wrapped up and said, “You are not going to race today, are you?!”  It was that sort of a fatherly comment that pretty much sealed the deal.  He said what everyone else wanted to say but didn’t.  It was just not a good choice to race that day.

G did race - here he is crossing the finish line all smiles!

    

Not racing was one of my best decisions I have made.  I was disappointed, especially since my legs actually felt good that  morning.  But this gave me a couple more days of healing and my hand is so much better for it.   I was able to get a good spin on the road bike Tuesday and managed a short Single Speed ride at Graham Hills on Wednesday evening.

I am not 100% healed up but pretty close to it.  I am making the choice to race this Sunday at the SingleSpeed-a-palooza.  It is a longer race- 28 miles but there are not any long down hills that will put a ton of pressure on my hand.  I think I am good to go and the weather looks perfect for race day!

S.M.