KY and Cramps

This weekend, I drove to the nice little town of London, Kentucky for the Kentucky State Road Championships.

Stay tuned for my special report: Which Highway Sign Sounds More Enticing; "Big Bone Lick State Park" or "KY Action Park"?

I drove 3.5 hours and had my choice of doing the 40 mile cat 3 race or the 80 mile cat 1/2/3 race. I believe it should be law that no one should ever spend more time driving to the race than the actual racing time. So, I registered for the 80 miler. It's hilly, so that would take more than 3.5 hours and my universe would spin on it's axis correctly.

But, in the back of my mind, my goose was cooked already. I've been having some cramping in my legs. The night before, I woke up with cramps.

* If just dreaming about racing gives you cramps, that's a bad sign *

I imagine this is a dehydration issue. My weight had been down a bit and the last day off my bike was August 10th. Also, I believe air, beer and coffee are the 3 most important substances required to sustain life function.

* Should we play "Spot the warning signs Mike is going to have a bad race"? *

We rolled out from town and the locals cheered for us because there's not much to do in London, KY. The race official told us we should be neutralized (no racing) until we rode through town and crossed the railroad tracks.

So, we crossed the railroad tracks...

Boop! There goes my one of my water bottles! Was jostled out of the holder and fell and slid on the road and into the gutter. I thought about saying "wait up guys!" but this is bike racing, not Nascar. Now, I'm riding 80 miles while nursing two water bottles and not drinking much while I suppose I am already dehydra-tated.

Now to the racing: There was a breakaway and we rode really hard to catch is. But we failed. And at mile 68, it felt like someone stuck a ginsu knife in my left quad as it seized up. And the main group got smaller and smaller... But! The field was so small, everybody got paid. And I finished. Yay!

So, Mikey drove home with some gas money.

But, you know what else happened?

* This is where you say: "What happened then, Mike? This isn't dragging on too long. I love you, Mike! *

I had another huge cramp in my car while I was driving! I couldn't press on the gas pedal, so I had to pull over and stop in a construction area. Then, I got out and tried to walk it off, writhing in pain.

Nobody stopped. That made me feel good about humanity.

It went away. So, I celebrated by downing a couple of beers when I got home.

"I'm a quick learner", Mikey says to himself as he types this while on his third cup of coffee...

Bye.