So there are days that you never want to end and there are days that you want to forget immediately. Yesterday was the latter, as far as bike racing goes. I had a great set up to the race: A good night sleep (rare for me), a relaxing morning (another rarity with the house, yard, kids) and I arrived early enough to be calm getting dressed and geared up. As soon as I pedaled my bike warming up I knew it could be a tough one. I have had sore legs a few times before a race (not tired, but actually a tinge of pain like weight lifting soreness) and it has never gone well. Never. But I tried to ignore the legs and hope they would come around. They didn’t. The start was fast and I think the field dropped about 1/2 the riders in the first 3 miles. I survived up the killer climb fine, but just couldn’t push the pedals hard on the top when needed. I just couldn’t go over a tempo pace. Aerobically I was fine, but my legs just wouldn’t respond. So I went into internal suffer mode and just tried to make the best of it. I ended up finishing a distant 28th place in the race with most of the field dropping out totally. Tough day on the bike. But just like a corner in football, you have to have a one play/one race memory. The next one is around the corner and it is a new ballgame.