SKYLINE RACE AND TBF FRIDAY NIGHT RACE

I've had two races since my last post:

The skyline race in Napa was the Norcal State Championship race with the top 5 in all classes moving on to national. Needless to say, the competition was tough and motivated. We arrived(my wife and 3 children) the day befoe the race to scout out the course. The good news was the couse fit my riding strenghts perfectly. The bad news was it was 102 degrees when we were pitching our tent on saturday afternoon. I'm a pretty big rider, size/weight-wize, and us big guys don't do heat very well. It just takes extra energy to cool off the extra muscle mass. Anyway, I had a great race the first lap(when it was cooler), when the heat kicked up, I felt like I was sliding backwards down the slopes of the loose gravel pitches with evry pedal stroke. I lost my water on lap #2 and had to slow down, then on lap #3 the ol' cramp dog came nipping at my right quad. I managed to turn it on for the last few miles and finished 8th in my group.

5 days later my addiction was back and I needed to race again and the TBF friday night series was happening just down the hill from me at Granite Bay. I performed very well despite having ridden the night before. The thurday group ride was 40 miles and 4,000ft of climbing. So, on no recovery and with a race and tons of miles in the legs, I show up after a full day of work with the wife and 3 kids and pull off a 3rd place finish in my age group. Who needs recovery anyway?