No Faking the 40

I have heard it said that there is no faking it in the Cheq 40. Unfortunately after 7 weeks of 1 or 2 days a week at most on the bike, faking it was all I had. Early this season I had a goal of a top fifty, (which is ridiculous considering I have never seen this race) but I knew my reality going into it was that I was just going to ride it out.

I chose a 36x17 and staged my bike around midfield at 8:30. I was really hungry waiting for the race to start after having had a rushed breakfast earlier. I tried to eat the hippy snack out of the registration bag, but it was pretty awful. Like a turd-rolled-in-birdseed-entire-family-laughing-for 5-minutes-at-how-awful-it-was awful. Starting hungry was a perfect way to top off my already low expectations.

The start was less frenzied and scary than I expected. I was actually able to relax and move up carefully through the field. About 10 miles in I started feeling good and would shoot past quite a few racers on every climb. At mile 30 however, everything seized up and that party was over. After that I was staggering up hills dragging my bike behind me. I was passed by legions of pie plates, primal jerseys, and Euro pro kits. I was pathetic. Racing is so much more fun when you have the miles in. When I rolled in the finish the clock said 4:24 and I hung my head. I found out a few minutes later my finish was like 3:04. Phew! Still, it was a full 40 minutes slower than I feel I should have been had my fitness progressed this year as planned.

After having a little meat orgy under the tent at the finish, we were out of there. I know we have had it pretty good with racing weather this year, but the rain was a real buzzkill. There were waves in our campsite back at the KOA, so we cut our trip short and headed home.

The Cheq experience was huge for me. It was truly memorable and epic. I can honestly say it has refreshed my passion for racing bikes, which I sorely needed. Still being new to this, I think I had gotten a little too WORS-centric and just burned myself out with the trainer hours. Staring at the power meter and the carpet for 150 hours before the racing ever starts doesn't leave you with many matches to burn. I'll get it figured out by the time I'm 45.