Cross Ogden- Bruised and broken from my knees to my toes

My bike remounts have been pretty good this year. Up until today that is. Luckily I only had to get dismount/remount once per lap this go round, but that still added up to 7 terrible remounts. One of them was so bad that it tweaked my seat so the nose was tilted up about 45 degrees. I had to reach behind myself mid-lap and pull it back closer to level. My shins are all banged up from hitting the pedals. Of course because of my mental fear of bad remounts getting bigger and bigger each lap, the remounts got worse and worse. Which brings up the next subject: Bad choices due to oxygen deprivation.

Lap 1.5: Hanging on to the lead group...miscalculated a bunny hop by just a bit and my rear wheel slammed into the log. Result: Dropped chain, dropped from the lead group. Passed by 5 or so riders.

Lap 1.5 on: constantly hitting potholes, etc, and taking the worst possible line on the paved section. What, have I not ridden on the pavement before?

Lap .9, 1.9, 2.9, 3.9, 4.9, 5.9, 6.9: Barriers, barriers, barriers. For how much fun I made of the people slamming into that log, they can make fun of me for stumbling through the barriers. I felt like I'd never done these before. Guess I know what to work on this week.

Lap 5.5 Perfect bunny hop, totally blew through (read forgot about) the sharp left after the log. Slammed on the brakes and slammed my knee into the stem. By now I was bleeding in at least three places.

I'm amazed at how stupid I felt mid-race as my thoughts got less and less cognitive. At least it makes for some good "lessons learned" afterward, once I could start processing thoughts again.

On a semi-different note, just as Team Racer's Cycle Service got our skinsuits, I won't be able to use it when I achieve my dream of being a World Cup downhill racer. http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/uci-ban-skinsuits-and-open-face-helmets-for-mountain-bike-competition-19021 What? The UCI wants riders to wear pads? Oh well, those New Zealanders looked slick in their all black skinsuits on their 8 inch travel bikes while it lasted.