Chicken!

Yup, that's me.  I totally chickened out of this weekend's race.  Well, kind of.  I pre-rode the course at San Lee Park in Sanford, NC (middle of nowhere) on Friday with three friends.  It was tough, really tough.  Crazy boulders, rocks, super tight switchbacks, very technical.  There were some fun, fast parts, but few and far in between.  This course is for technical and fearless riders, of which I am neither.

I completed the 10 mile lap on Friday just fine.  But I walked quite a bit.  The experts ride one large boulder section that I was able to run with my bike on my left shoulder, faster than ride.  Yeah, that kind of course.

But still, I pre-rode, and could race just fine.  Oh, but then the weather, the most wonderful weather.  Saturday it rained hard, all day.  Perfect.  So add mud to this wonderful rocky, rooty, off camber joy and all of the sudden it gets scary, a little dangerous even.  Well maybe only for someone who isn't allowed to fall for 9 more weeks.  And did I mention it's supposed to be like 35 degrees.  Fun, fun!

So funny thing.  Saturday afternoon, I'm brushing me teeth after lunch and I feel a pinch and pop in my right shoulder and neck.  Ouch!  I check and see that the bone is still where it's supposed to be.  Good.  But the pain is almost unbearable.  I am home alone with the boy.  So I reach for the pain meds that were too strong after my shoulder surgery.  I take half a pill, then the other half, then another.  I also dig out a rice heating thingy I got at a Dirt Diva secret Santa exchange a few years ago (thanks!), read the directions, and pop in into the microwave.  And still I can't move my neck. 

Hmm, so how am I going to race tomorrow?  At this point, I'm really getting mad.  This is silly.  My shoulder is healed enough that I can finally ride, and now some silly thing in my neck is going to stop me from racing.  But yeah, it did. 

I took some more pain pills before bed and washed them down with a Cider.  This morning my neck still hurts, although not as bad. 

Maybe I was not meant to ride.  The course was probably too slippery, too dangerous for me.  Oh well.  I spent a fun day with my family. 

But I still feel like a chicken for not racing and that makes me mad.  GRRR!!!  I guess I'm a fair weather rider for a few more months.