Time to Hang up the Wheels?

This past weekend was prime conditions for a cyclocross race and we had two events on the calendar - BS #4 on Saturday and the Missouri State Cyclocross Championships held on Sunday. Both events were held at the Ray Town BMX . They did not use the BMX course, but instead used the fields next to the facility and did one loop around the outside of the course. Lots of rain on Saturday made the course just a little soupy. Sunday's race was a little more muddy with the course drying (I use this word loosely) up some causing clearance problems for some as the mud stuck to frames..

Plenty of great albums out there: Phil Peter's Saturday, Phil Peter's Sunday, John Peck's Saturday, John Peck's Sunday, Patrick Kirkes, Saturday, Jason Watkins Sunday.

Typically I would really enjoy this type of race, but as luck would have it I was not able to attend on Saturday and felt like crap on Sunday. Friday night I was eating my pre-race meal which included some homemade soup that Carolynn made. Everything was great and we went to bed as usual. About 1:30 am I awake because I was having trouble swallowing and breathing. Apparently I was having an allergic reaction to something I had eaten. My tongue, face, mouth and throat were all swollen. I felt like I had a large cow tongue and had to keep my mouth open and stick my tongue out so I could breath. Carolynn got up and helped me and we drove to the ER to get treatment for my Swollen Tongue. On the way we decided to stopped by a Wal-Mart and got an antihistamines to see if that would help. After a short period it appeared it would. We ended up heading back home and taking 2 more and resting. I was finally able to get back to sleep by about 0600. It was not until about 1:00 pm on Saturday that I was finally able to eat something. Needless to say no racing for me today. And in hindsight I should not of ridden on Sunday either.

Sunday came and I decided to go ahead and see what the day would bring me. I usually ride mud really well. But that was not the case as I had nothing in the legs to do anything. It is my off-season and really should not expect to have any, but Sunday was really bad. Still unsure way. Anyways, I rode around in the mud for 50 minutes, got lapped by most of the field, got my pit bike all muddy (I decided to use it because during warm-up I could tell my legs were dead and I did not want to damage my bike - we all know what a muddy race can do to a bike) and ended up getting DFL in the Masters 45 + class. That is pretty bad for me, especially in a muddy race.

On the way home I really contemplated quitting cycling. I am tired of embarrassing myself at races. If I can not even compete at a local level I do believe it is time to hang up my wheels. But I do realize that this year has been riddled with injuries and I really should not have been out racing anyways at this time of year, especially when I am not focusing cross as many other are.

It is time to take an extended break and ease back into things. If I do not have some good sensations this winter during training there will be about a dozen wheelsets for sale.....