Winter Shart Tarck 2020.3

I love sleeping in.  When Boppit got down on the floor and started scratching his itch at 4:27 AM with his collar all jingle-jangling, I was all "NOT TODAY."

I got outta bed, grabbed him, put him back at the foot... where he proceeded to lay between my legs hiccuping.

Dammit.

Eventually, he fell asleep, and the house stayed quiet until 9:00 AM.

Buenos.  That's how a shart tarck Sunday needs to happen.

The Pie made me pancakes.  No one's car needed inspected or had mechanical issues.  I didn't go out into the backyard with a shovel in hand and hate in my heart.  The conditions were perfect.

Ride over to the race, feel relaxed... comparatively.  No repeat of the stress from the week before.  Things were looking upwards.  Line up towards the front because why not?  Twenty five single speeders out here today.  Jeebers.

Go for it from the start a little harder than last week, the 32 X 16 really making the difference on the pavement.  So happy I swapped my gear... again.  Go into the first section of woods in the top five or so.  Take the B-line climb option outta the woods, because as Albert Einstein once said (or he didn't), "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."  Aside from pride, it makes no sense for someone like me to take the A-line.  I have to rest for a few seconds coming to it, and then gas myself the whole way.  All the bobbles and bad lines add up, even if I do manage to clean the whole thing... on a stupid single speed.  I was 100% blasted all sixteen times I'd done it previously, so mebbe try something new.

And it worked.

Sorta.

I came out of the woods feeling better, hit the gas on the gravel, sprinted up the pavement, and passed Nick, Jason, Jamie and Charles... putting me in virtual third.  That is until I waved everyone by, knowing full well I couldn't keep that effort up in the woods, and I'd just be holding them up.

Doh.  Except Charles.  He got stuck behind me as we got pinched at the entrance to the trail.

Thorry.

photo cred: Lee F

Anyhoo, my body was acting the way it was supposed to, as I was seeing the heart rate numbers I expected.  Except for the couple times I attacked at the bottom of the B-line climb (as opposed to waiting for the gravel), I was super happy with the way things turned out.  I was able to get back around Nick...

photo cred: Lee F

Nick... trying?  Thinking about what to eat for supper?  Dunno.

BTW: I was trying to do the math in my head the whole time.  Did his 30+ year old self staying out till closing time equal my 50+ year old self sitting on the couch watching TV with beer in hand till 11:30?  Dunno.

I ended up in 6th place, up from my standard 8th place of the previous two weeks.  Cracking into the top five in the overall points is gonna require taking it up a notch (or two), or Jamie or Charles missing a race, getting sick, or doing something stupid like blowing themselves out riding in Pisgah on a Saturday.

Who's dumb enough to do that tho?