I disappointed myself yesterday. I lined up for my first 1-2-3 race at the Chicago Criterium, knowing that the large cash prizes meant it would be very fast and very hard. And indeed, on the line there were some very professional looking teams with matching bikes and race radios. The whistle blew, I got clipped in OK and got myself going. As we approached the first corner, we went faster and faster . . . and I choked. I let the pack go through the corner without me. And that was it, I was off the back.

If I'd been more aggressive, I think I could have stayed with the pack until the first prime sprint. But I wasn't, I was a coward.

Bike racing is humbling. I hadn't forgotten that, I just haven't been so thoroughly humbled in a while.

Which just means I have a lot of work to do. Endless hours of training, practice crits, sprint drills. Today I'm feeling daunted.


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Oh, and take if from someone who wasted $21 -- skip the new X-Files movie. It's dumb and deeply unsatisfying. The plot could have been a lesser TV episode if you drained all the life and humor from it. It's hard to believe that THIS was all Chris Carter had in him.