now i am tired.

i began my day with some french toast. a good way to start any day i guess. then i sat around drinking water (i think i bit too much) until noon when i went down to the start area. on the way down my right quad cramped up a bit, and i think it might have been because i drank so much water yesterday and today, flushing all good and bad things out of my system! oops! lesson learned. after sitting around down at the start for a bit i did a short early warmup, then got back and a few of the others from the team were starting theirs so i joined them. we went to switzerland (all of 2 min away) and did some sprints. lucky they were not checking passes today!!! while we were doing these, the nice dry (partly cloudy) weather changed. it began to rain. no pour. for a good solid 20 minutes. soaking everything, we just stood under the border roof until it let up a bit. i would not have cared much had this rain been early this morning, but it was 15 min. before the start of my race. so it changed from a dry race, to a very wet start.
nonetheless, everyone lined up at the start line (80ish people). I was approched by Thomas, the guy who is in charge of the konstanz bike club, and who i registered for my license with, and he told me: first dont crash, that would be very bad cause you dont have you license making things difficult. then he told me i could not get better than 11th or go for the premiums (prizes) cause again without a license things would get sketchy...
then the race was off! the rain had stopped by this time. but still very wet. the course had two 180 degree corners so those were taken slow. then after exploding. when i had the chance to look we went from 45km/h to 25 then up to 45 or 50 right away. very taxing on the legs. for the first 15 laps or so (out of 50) i kept getting popped off the back of the group on each corner then work hard to get back on, just to do it all over again. there was a 2 man crash somewhere in these laps, but noone hurt. just a broken bike. so by lap 35 i was finally starting to feel decent. i was able to stay with the group on the corners and all. by lap 25 i was feeling quite good. by this time the peleton was probably about 50 or so, people who were far behind were being pulled out to make it stay safe. about this time there was a bigger crash in the front of the group that took out 6 or 7. i was luckily far enough back to easily avoid it. i was unfourtunatley at the very back at this time, so little groups of 2 or 3 guys would drop of the back. slowing up because they were dead, so i would have to bridge up to the group again and again. then with 15 or so laps to go it was down to i suppose the 25 that finished. i had managed to stay in there quite nicely after 20 laps to go. i was feeling quite good now. after a few more laps there was a 7 or 8 man breakaway that had been out for a bit, i attacked to see if i could get up, but everyone stuck on me. which i guess was ok cause my group then caught this breakaway (however 2 guys were way out front). then the race quickly came to a close after that. after the race my legs felt pretty dang good (tired now), but my arms were toast. partly from being the the drops for an hour 30, and from the bumpy road...
i am not sure exactly when during the race, but the sun did come out and started to dry things out, to late to matter for my race of course, but thats ok.
today out of the 10 or so guys from konstanz that started, only i and one other finished. he finished 15th and me 16th. so thats fun to know that i am up there with the best in the city. or at least those in the club.
after the race and showering and such i went back down to help clean up, knowing there was left over drinks and food. i got a loaf of bread, which is good cause i am nearly out. some buns. 2 things of apple juice. and shared a mug of beer with the others. all for free!
and now after all that i am tired

breaking up and getting strung out.

along the way. im there on the far side

happy mothers day mum...