Connected in Conneticuit

So...we finally managed to make it to Connecticut.
Race 1 in Farmington.
As we were warming up on the course, I told Natasha she could take a downhill 180 turn from pavement to grass "pretty fast". Well I guess she thought I said very fast...cause as the rain gave the pavement an ice like gloss I heard the sound of tubular vs pavement mixed with rain...as I looked over my shoulder I saw Tasha somehow avoid an almost catastrophic crash on the pavement. She still went down but somehow clipped out and slowed it down by...well I don't really know what she did, but she did a good job of crashing. I take full credibility for showing her how to do that, lord knows I've been called "my favorite crash waiting to happen".
Needless to say this happening 5 minuted before staging she was a little sketched out. So she started off in about 8th, picked her way through to second about 15 seconds from Lynn. She gave it full gas to catch but slid out on some kind of plastic/rubber ontop of the grass. She went down pretty hard, hit her head, but she got up and rode to 4th to minimize the losses. She's a little sore, but I know a really, really good nurse to look after her.

Somehow anytime Pedal Mag or Canadian Cyclist list the results they always manage to mix up the results, say she races for a different team or as today have USA written beside her name. As her results are always mixed up, I have failed to really provide an actual result.
So far I have either had a bad start, blown up, had a crash or a combination of all three.
As I love to be consistent, today, I pretty much had the worst start possible, the guy in front of me missed his pedal, then my rear wheel slid out, which had me in about 37th place during the first lap. I picked my way up to 18th and managed to actually ride clean, no crashes, legs were good, actually rode well. Oz rode strong and finished 8th. He's not really my teamate, but he's a great guy and he deserves some success, he planned his whole year on going in well in Cross.

I was actually happy with today, not really the result, but with the way I rode after the 1st lap.
So now if I can put that together with the start I had at Nationals or Gloucester I will be in the mix for all kinds of unreasonable amounts of pain. Believe me that's actually a good thing!

Fingers crossed, think positive, tomorrow will be better.
Good thing about riding from the back you get stronger, bad thing well you feel like you suck.

Other mentionable details about this weekend...

We're staying at a Hilton suites...very nice. The girl at the front desk gave us an awesome rate for last night for some unknown reason, most likely because we look like we don't have money.
Someone in another room either beside us or above was snoring so loud, it was actually ridiculous, sleep apnea for sure. I wasn't sure if I should bang on the wall or call 9-1-1. So I banged on the wall. We went to complain this morning and they comped our room, last night was free. Sweet.

If you're ever in Massachusetts get a chicken burrito from Fresh City...mmmm. Not quite as good as a shwarma, but I could see myself 'jonesing' for this.

If you ever have the overwhelming urge to bring an extra seat to a Cross race do it. For some reason I actually brought another seat and guess what, I broke my seat 20 minutes before the race. Thank you little voice inside my head.

Tomorrow we drive back to Northampton Mass. Perhaps my week of rest will pay off. Come on good start!

DSJ