259. Grumpy

So my day was not going well and I was in a shitty mood. I am surprised no one told me that I was a jerk. I know if I had opened my mouth one more time it was probably going to happen. How did I fix my crappy mood? I went to the Wednesday Solitude race. I was still in a crappy mood when I got there. I tried my best to hide it but I was doing a pretty poor job. Once the race started the bad mood was gone. I entered the pain cave, which by the way has teeth, and did not crawl out for 75 minutes. They changed the course and had us go up the paved road and then ride the course backwards. The climb hurt the flats hurt and the down hill hurt. At one point I started hearing things. I kept hearing phantom racers who were not there coming up on me fast. At one point I thought I saw a racer in the shadows about to pass me. I managed to finish but the last mile was fairly sketchy. I went off the trail twice and nearly crashed about a hundred times. On my second lap while going up the paved road someone asked me why we do this. I told him I must hate myself. The race hurt but at least I am not grumpy anymore. Tired and beat yes. Grumpy no.

Tomorrow Erich and I are off to do the Galena Grinder. It is the memorial race for my friend's son. It will be good to see Mark and Gail. I am sure the race will be interesting. From what I know it is very similar to Solitude. High altitude, rocky and rooted. Still it should be fun. I will take a few photos. I just hope the pain cave does not bite my butt too hard.