DNF Streak

Well, I'm definitely not on a win streak at the moment. I was recovering most of last week from the OBRA crit crash, so I didn't do PIR. Saturday came around and it was time for the Giro di Portland. And I was very unprepared for it. I didn't pre-ride the course, but I knew there were some cobbles, but I didn't know that they were nasty cobbles. Then, I got in a so-so warmup. And I didn't completely check my tire pressure or even make sure the skewers were tightened. Since I hadn't pre-rode the course I did a practice lap instead of lining up immediately. I went around corner one and was like "OH CRAP!" I lined up ok, and then we were off and it was tough. I got caught behind a crash and was able to get a free lap where I moved up a lot. But then, the skewer on my front wheel was all over the place. I got off the back and tightened it and the pack was gone. I sort of tried to catch up, but could hear the motorcycle and got lapped by Bedford and then decided to pull out. And that was I believe my shortest race of the year with a time of about 25 minutes.

That's about it really, I feel like I really disappointed a bunch of people who came to watch me race: my sister down from Seattle, my church friends, my new teammates and whoever else is out there following. I also feel lazy to myself for just pulling out like that. I really admired how Rocky raced since he dropped a chain and was a lap down and still finished the race and did work for the team at the end. And then Klipper got 2nd so that was good. More and more I feel like I'm a little less committed to performing well since I have my teammates in the field and am not reliant on myself or for winning money to stay financially viable in life. Furthermore I feel like it's a bad example I'm setting for our new teammates to bail out so soon. I'm realizing more and more that people really do pay attention to what I do and I don't want to set a bad example of being a quitter or having poor racer etiquette.

So this coming week it is a rest week, but I have really had it and am pissed off looking at my last 3 results: DNF, DNS, DNF. This streak must end! I am in fact going easy all other 5 days, but tomorrow at PIR I WILL MAKE IT IN THE BREAK and then I'm going to be trying hard to get a top 10 at Longview.