CONTRADICTION

     Actually, it is more like a correction than a contradiction.  Recently I wrote that anytime you are cycling you are having fun.  That isn't necessarily true.  My friend Byran has a defintion:  Anytime you come back from a ride and nothing is broken, then you had fun.  But I've had several rides that fit that definition and definitely were not fun.
     2011 was THE year.  The one where I came off the tracks, so to speak.  The one that sticks in my mind the most is the no-longer Walburg ride.  It used to be a well-attended kick-off to the road racing season and folks would race Walburg on Saturday and Pace Bend on Sunday.  That sounded good to me, so I sorta trained up for it (did some mileage) and entered.  Several things were against me.  The age group was 60+ and I was 68.  See previous post about age categories.  The course was two twenty-four mile loops.  Well, I could ride forty-eight miles but racing them was another story.
     In any case, I got behind in the neutral ride up to the rolling start line and the guys in the front lit it up, accelerating before the line and going full gas from the get-go.  Down the hill, turn right, turn right, go uphill.  I was behind some guys who let a gap form on the uphill and I never could catch back on.  I'm sure three of us carried on for awhile, but my recollection of this ride is that I did a lap and a half by myself.  About five miles from the end I was told I was the last rider and would I like to just sag in.  I knew there were two or three behind me, so I said no.  Besides, I was fuming at the organizers for having us old guys do long mileage.  It may have been misplaced anger.  Oh, the the guys behind me actually dropped out on the first lap, so I was indeed last coming in at two hours thirty-seven minutes.  So, yes, this ride was not fun.
     To top it off, I had foolishly signed up for Pace Bend.  I showed up Sunday and prepared to race.  The start line was about twenty yards ahead of where I thought it was, so once again I found myself in the back.  Then I misplaced my foot and wasted two seconds getting clipped in.  Again, the young guys jumped off the front.  I chased for about a mile up and down the hills.  At the end of the first lap, I gave the hand-to-throat signal to the timer and called it a day.  Another day of non-fun on the bike.
     But stupidity didn't stop there.  Perhaps I should call it experimenting rather than stupidity.  The following week I was in Mineral Wells for a time trial, road race, and criterium.  I did two criteriums before giving up on them.  Once again, the age group was 60+.  Once again I managed to get behind a rider who couldn't hold a wheel.  I wasn't all that far behind, but got pulled after two miles.  That wasn't fun.
     Later, same year, my friend Tom enticed me to enter the Tour of Austin, another crit.  I managed a fourth place finish but again was stewing.  As opposed to Mineral Wells, this was a little more laid back, to the extent that the third place guy had a "mechanical" with two laps to go and was allowed to sit out a lap and jump back on.  He was behind me when he stopped and ahead when he started up again.  I was gassed, and pissed.
     But time heals all wounds.  I gave Walburg another chance.  Didn't let the front get away from me at the start, hung with them the first two hills.  Did the rest by myself.  Again (two hours, forty-two minutes).  At least this year I didn't sign up for Pace Bend.  By the way, you know all the gorgeous pictures of the very pretty CD4 that get posted?  I'm pretty sure this is the year someone got her with a frightening snarl as she wound it up for the finish line at Walburg.  That, too, sticks in my mind.
     I've ridden the Walburg roads by myself and others and had lots of fun.  Racing by yourself is not.  Somewhere in the archives I've written about some others, specifically when I've hit the ground (two involved vehicles).  So there you have it, years of cycling and only a handful of not-fun rides.    May your future be as bright.