This is pretty much an anti-race report. I had been thinking for a while about doing the Shawnigan Lake Olympic, and last week I committed. We were going to be in Victoria for the weekend anyway, as Graeme was racing the Sooke Classic road race - 95km from Sooke, past Jordan River and then back. As the week went on, the weather got worse and worse.
I spent Saturday morning standing on the side of the road as Graeme raced. It was wet, cold, breezy and just downright miserable. People were dropping out all over the place due to the cold. A lot of those fast guys have no body fat! Graeme rode his entire race and was frozen after and he has a high tolerance for the cold. We had the heat blasting in the car on the drive back to Victoria and I thought I'd pass out from the heat, while Graeme was fine. It took him a few hours to defrost.
I looked up the weather for Shawnigan and it said low of 6 and 60% chance of rain. The thought of getting on the bike, soaking wet in a tank top and shorts in those conditions just wasn't working for me. This is supposed to be fun and I am just not that hardcore! I felt extremely guilty about deciding not to race, but Graeme told me to stand outside in my tri top and shorts for 10 mins and that would reinforce that I had made the right decision. Each time I went outside for the rest of Saturday and Sunday and was cold in full clothing made me feel a bit better about my decision. I am mostly over the guilt now and there will be more races.
Two Year Update in One Post
7 years ago
2 comments:
It was frigging cold. Don't feel bad or guilty -- you made a very good judgment call. If you had not listened to your instincts you could have ended up in serious trouble. So, good on ya! :) :)
Making the decision not to race is never an easy one. It sounds like you made the right one though if it was that cold. A sprint up in Sylvan decided to change to an aquathon after snow and blustery winds on race morning this past weekend.
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