24 hrs of Conyers - short
They say you learn more from your mistakes than from your successes. I should learn a lot from this one then, though it could be a long time before all the lessons become evident. I bailed out around 1:30 AM after 15 laps when I broke the golden rule of 24 hour racing…don’t give up because anything can happen.
The early pace was fast, even with a squishy front tire I turned a 41 minute lap…a minute faster than last year’s fastest lap and probably 4 minutes faster than my own fastest lap. Yet, I was 3 minutes slower than Josh. My next lap was 46 minutes….and I had ripped my derailleur off in the first half, ran out and switched bikes. This dizzying pace continued while I slowly faded from the pace, the heat, the frustration of mechanicals, doubting voices in my head. By midnight I was walking the hills and mumbling to myself. This was not the race I had come for and I was unable to get my head around the transition from racing for the podium to surviving just to finish. 2 second flat put me over the edge mentally and I called it day.
Josh Tostado went on to win followed by Ernie, Rob L & Doug Smith. Josh certainly is flying right now.
That’s is the first time I’ve walked away from a race like that and I’m not real happy with that. My coach says there can be a lot of good to come from this one, but it’s a bit hard to see now. I’m sure he’s right and as soon as I get over this self anger and pity I may see it.
I need to go eat a big pile of something, so more later.
Eddie O