Can't Get Right

I have a staggering case of poison ivy. This is related to the extensive amount of time I've spent mountain biking lately. All over my arms. It's pretty gross and really itchy. But the new bike is sweet and it's much easier to ride fast. The rear brake started to leak fluid so the brake from the old bike is on there until the shop fixes the new one. I blew out a sidewall on Saturday, and broke a chain. I also had to rebuild both wheels - the machine build was astonishingly bad. So the list of 'not quite right' to full on 'wtf' stuff is pretty long. You buy a real nice race bike (like real nice - so nice I feel like a complete dipshit showing up on it) you don't expect that kind of stuff. Oy.

So I raced at Wakefield tonight. My starting technique is poor. The start there is kind of unique. The passing opportunities are not ample. I made life harder for myself with a super stupid bobble. Then I started passing people. A few guys who got good starts and can go fast and can turn quickly got pretty far ahead, but my second lap was really fast. The last lap I was stuck in traffic and it was slow. The really fast guys go SO fast and are so smooth in the twists.

The thing I learned tonight is that my left turns are pretty flash but my right turns suck. Like suck balls suck. I don't know why.

I finished towards the tail of a bunch. Definitely had the gas to get by but no opportunity. At least not without being a chach. And then there was a huge gap behind. I'd be pretty psyched to be able to do this race every week but it's over next week. Bleh. Fair Hill Sunday. That'll be cool.