Temps continued to plummet after our race on Wednesday and by the time we left the course everything was starting to solidify. This morning I was in the parking lot with my power washer getting what was left of the mud and turf off the bikes in the 5deg windchills. Nasty weather for racing and I was glad I didn't have to go again today. Geoff and I got our pre-race "openers" in this morning at the hotel on the trainers along with Troy Tucker, Tennessee National Champion. Geoff put on his "music", I think it was "Teen Dance Party VII" or some shit like that. By the time we got off the trainers an hour later my estrogen levels were 2x what they were when we started, I had begun lactating, and I craved a Caesar Salad (no croutons, dressing on the side).
We headed over to the course to catch the Men's 30-34 Finals. It was bitter cold, and the course was just as we expected. A frozen maze of treacherous ruts where there was trenches of 3-4 inch deep mud just the day before. Guys were coming into a patch of ruts at high speed, would catch a rut and get flung every which way, if they were lucky enough to stay up. Others went down hard or got flung into stakes or fencing. After the race, the grounds crew was trying to break up some of the rutted sections with a tractor. With the temps staying below freezing between now and when our race starts tomorrow the course will be frozen and fast. I picked up my number and will start in the 4th row tomorrow.
We went out to dinner with some former national and world champions, in the hopes that I will get better by osmosis. I'm really looking forward to the race tomorrow because it will require a lot more "racing" and won't be determined so much on physics (i.e. how many watts you can output) like the bog trot was the other day. I am nervous but confident and I know with 100% confidence that I will leave it all at Eva Bandman Park tomorrow.
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