That's it.

Sunday was a bright and early morning as my race start was 9 am and I had and hour and a half drive ahead of me to get to Dark Mountain.  I got there a little later than I wanted, and the conditions looked curious at best.

I was greeted by the other racers in my class as I had been MIA for a while now.  It was great catching up with them, but that of course ate into what little time I had before the start.  I got a quick warm up in and the course looked great, and dry.  Even the little run off that goes through the start area was dry!  Before the start all the fog burned off - conditions were great!

Having ridden here last week with the 18 (not race pace) I figured I'd be solid with the 20.  Maybe I would have, had my legs not exploded.

I don't know what happened.  Was it the fact that I destroyed my legs at the gym?  I went for a ride Saturday, but it wasn't anything demanding?  Maybe I shouldn't have stayed on the wheel of the guy in front of me off the start and let them go through the flatter stuff ahead of me?  Or maybe, just maybe, I've lost some from not racing in a bit?

Who knows what exactly attributed to it.  But all I can say is I didn't have it.

It wasn't until the second climb that my legs came back and I felt like I could put anything into them, or even stand and push on climbs.  By then it was too late.  The guys in the wave behind me were already catching me so I pulled off to let them go... and got stuck letting them all go as I didn't have time to get back and up to speed before the next guy - so I did a little running in the gaps.

There had been talk of a beer at the top of Snake... if there was beer, I was stopping to have one as this "race" was over for me.  (There was no beer...)  I rode the trail, had some fun, but wasn't able to keep pushing it like I should have been during a race.

So that's a wrap for the season.  It's also probably a wrap for racing for Blood Sweat Gears.  My buddy Sean (my connection to the shop) is out of racing for the foreseeable future due to an overuse injury to his hip.  He was ordered off the bike for over 2 months and is now only getting the ok to leisurely ride - but is told he won't be able to race again.  And Denver is just too far for me to maintain a relationship with the shop.  Of course I'll wear the kit out and about, but I think I'll be racing for someone else (myself) next season.

Some random thoughts about this season:
I need to ride more.
I need to do more focused training.
I don't get nervous at the start anymore because I've come to realize that I really am just racing myself.
Confirmed once again, mountain bikers (as a whole) are good people.
If your race involves a free t-shirt, I will most likely be there!

Oh, and I did manage to finish 5th in the season standings... so that's something I suppose.