Self Portrait Tues: Suffer Fest

Would you pay money to endure pain as long as you can? Kinda odd, but that's what racers do. $25-30 entry fee, and if I miss the pre-registration deadline, add another $5. There are some prize money, but that's for the top 3 winners. So unless I'm in top form and feel like i can win a race, i'm basically giving money away. I'm sure the wife doesn't like that. My best finish is 28th of 42, which is ok and just finishing with the pack. My worst is being pulled off the course after only 15min of a 60min race, feeling my heart and lungs in my throat (including my liver and spleen). So there is some progress in my condition that i'm finishing and not pushed to the limit in such a short time.
On this picture, it's hard to tell from this angle but we're actually going up a 12% grade hill for 1 mile. That's steep (for us cat 5 racers)! It flattens out a little, but then there are more hills after. This is where the best cyclist separate themselves from the rest (look at Lance). I have always been a sprinter and like the short flat bursts of speeds, so we are suffering up this hill. It does raise my confidence when i pass someone up that hill, tells me i'm improving. But the same goes the other way when i'm the one being passed, then there goes my confidence. Sometimes i'm thinking "why the heck am i doing this? why am i being passed? why are my legs cramping? did i really pay money for this?..." Then i get over the hill and fly down at 45mph, pass the same guys that passed me, cross the finish line, high-five my teammates, check my placement, eat a big post race meal with the team and talk about our races, call the wife and tell her how i raced, come home and see my wife and kids run to me yelling..Daddy!! Daddy!! Was it worth the pain?........

.....the check is in the mail (for the next race).


"ride to work, work to eat, eat to ride, ride to work" -jl