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World Cup # 1 - DNF : Not the good kind of fever
When things are going badly, it's safe to say that eventually, they will get better. Consequently, when everything is going amazingly, the only other option is for things to go a little bit less amazing. I believe that's one of the only constant in life.
That being said, when we planned the season, we knew that flying form the East Coast to Reno, and then fly directly to the World Cup in Waterloo, in a matter of just a few days, would be hard for the body. But we wanted to make the trip, Interbike being a very important event. A lot of travel can be hard on health and we took our precautions, coming into the trip rested and taking all the typical precautions to avoid getting sick.
However, the morning before the Reno race, I had already a sore throat. I slept A LOT since then, took it easy in training and swallowed many "cold killer" pills in the hope of being all good and healthy for the first World Cup of the season. Unfortunately, I still wasn't quite back to 100% healthy today. I still decided to take the start because you never know if you could surprisingly feel good. But there was no such surprises today...only burning lungs, and no energy.
So after 2 laps, I decided to call it a day. I felt like by racing, I was only making my situation worse. Instead, by stopping earlier, I don't feel like I brought myself to the ground, and I'm confident that with a couple of relaxed days, I'll be back to 100%; ready and - even more - excited for next week's World Cup.
It is always disappointing to not finish a race, but I can honestly say that I am happy with my decision. And although I'm bummed I got sick, and bummed I wasn't really able to measure myself against the best in the world during today's race, I still see many positives about the situation...
Among the positive points:
It's a looooonnnnggg season. I don't want to carry sickness over several weeks.
I know the fitness is there. But health is priority. With no health, there is no performance. Once I'l be healthy, I'm confident I'll be able to race like I've bee doing so far this season.
It was awesome to do the first 2 laps of the World Cup and get back into that fighting feeling, in such a deep field. Great experience for next week!
In my young career, I've had way more "bad" racing moments, than good ones...although it was sometimes hard, I now see this as one of my biggest strength. Trust me, I now know how to deal with this and it doesn't even affect my mood.
Skills felt good during the race. I'm glad I could do a few good passes out there.
At the end of the day, when something goes wrong, all you can do if focus on the solutions. My coach and partner David is a master at that...and as we stated before, if you do that, you know things will end up getting better again! :)
Thank you for the support guys!! Through the highs and the lows, having you by my side means so much!!
Photo by Luke Batten
Still had good feelings in the technical sections - Photo by Luke Batten @tenspeedhero
The 3 of us (me and the 2 bags under my eyes) are still smiling even after today's DNF. Because we have no doubt all will be back to normal in no time! Photo by TENSPEED HERO