Aw Shucks...

I may actually do a race report. But that would get Foist all bent. At least I don't have a cold or Poison Oak for that matter, and the only person I can logically blame for my ill-fated attempt at racing is myself. So, I think I am in the clear.

Sea Otter is like a black hole. It's like being in a vortex for three days. Nothing outside of the Otter exists and if it does, it really doesn't matter. It's just plain weird. I haven't been to The Void for about 3-4 years for reasons before mentioned and really, it just dredges up a lot of, shall we say, "memories."

The drive there was uneventful, although pulling into the venue, 4 bikes on the car, 4 people, and a LOAD of stuff, we were asked: "Are you carpooling??" Um....ok...

Shelli and Jesse kept me laughing with their "pronunciation" of Cannery vs Cannery Row...bird or can? Or Carmel By the Sea, but what about Caramel? It all comes down to semantics guys...

On Sunday I got hot. Bottom line. I was rollin' with my homies about mid-pack which i was stoked with considering...well life. We had a train going with Maureen and Sarah two chicks I have ridden with a lot and we were having a blast! Then I got the chilly bumps on my arms, shakes, blurry vision and I was cold. Weird. Because it was high 90's and sweltering.

I knew the day was going to be interesting when I saw my FAVORITE, all-time hero Wendy Simms pull to the side of the trail in full on vomit mode. I stopped for a brief moment to make sure she could get out ok and wished her the best...

I decided to "DNF" while riding through a forested single track. Usually these are places of refuge from the sun and heat. Not this one. All I wanted to do was get out of there! It felt like I was being suffocated by the oxygen from the plants. Heavy, HOT, thick air. It was disgusting.

It was also in this Void within the Vortex that I started thinking about 8am Monday morning and facing a freshman class of Health students and having to admit to them I had succumbed to Heat Exhaustion. What a hypocrite! I preach to them daily about hydration, heat safety, taking care of your body and being able to LISTEN TO WHAT IT IS SAYING!! So I bucked up and listened. The body said NO!

One small caveat on this course. If you DNF, you might as well ride your bike out, if you aren't too broken to do so. On my pilgrimage back to the raceway, I found a casualty. So odd. A bike on the side of the road. I got closer. Two feet laying prostrate on the ground. It seemed as if the racer had been caught under the house that squished the Wicked Witch of the West. I stopped and saw Sarah Piccolo completely down for the count. She was talking wacky talk, covered with sweet and salt and dirt. I quickly told her to take her helmet and gloves off and I pilfered as much water and fluids from nearby water bottles. While I did that she took the opportunity to continue puking and dry heaving into the weeds. Help arrived after about 10 minutes, just in time for Danae York to ride through.

I jumped at the opportunity to have someone to pedal home with. We talked about heat, the rancid water I had put in my bottle from random bottle on the trail, poison oak, college boys, life at CU Boulder where she is at school, and the balance of life. Super cool girl. I was glad to ride with her!

Hopefully Wendy, Sarah, Krista, the 52 men that abandoned their race, and all the racers that probably should have abandoned the race, are recovering well. The sun can be quite the life-sucker.

Mr. Freeman made an excellent post about the weekend, just the way things go sometimes!!