Mountain Bike Racing - Fun or Hard or ?

Creve Coeur is such a pleasant place to ride a mountain bike.  The trails are swoopy, the turns are fun, the hills are short, and it is generally a great place to just enjoy riding.  Racing there is quite a different story.  Sunday was the "Heartbreaker" mountain bike race at Creve Coeur, and it was a hot one.  Eli had 12 juniors to race with, and he came in with another 3rd place.  Tough, tough day on what is normally a fun trail to ride.  Pay no attention to the "Risky Business" vibe he's putting off here, he was pretty pleased with his race, although he was hot and tired.

It was a bit hotter by the time I raced at 11am.  True, most of the course is in the woods, but you could cut the humidity with a knife.  The Cat 1 class was surprisingly small, but the speed never disappoints.  Guess what I did?  Yes, I led out the race, putting my health and heart rate at risk but YOLO or something like that.  I was passed (you already knew that) by 3 guys at the end of the first lap and it pretty much stayed like that until the end.  The long...bitter...end.  We did 6 laps totaling just under 30 miles. And I got stung by something very hateful at the start of the 2nd lap.  It felt like someone threw a rock at me, so that evil little thing was coming in hot for the triple lindy sting. My eye was feeling puffy and sure enough it kind of still is.  

I have to say I have very few "HISTORIC" designations on Strava, but I would say this race applies.  

My poor heart.  It really does try it's best.  I'm sure if I could sit down and have a good long talk with my heart, it would certainly complain about the working conditions.  I'm always thinking about giving it a vacation or sending it nice gifts or even a get-well card now and then, but I doubt it would make things better. But just like all task-masters, I have a job to do and the only way to get it done is to ask the heart to do it's best work.  Today, even though I was beaten down by 3 very fast guys, I did give my absolute best (I even averaged 13 freaking miles per hour!!) which means so did my fluttering, pathetic heart.  Way to go, dude! I'll get you that vacation soon. Promise.  Really.