Sunday was the big test. The teacher knows, she’s seen my daily assignments. I didn’t do my homework. So I was foolish to expect a decent grade on the test. But all I gotta do is stay upright and finish and I score a C right. Well into the first lap, flying down the Blue Trail descent and that sweeping gravel right hander with the root in the good line… the same feature that I was warning everyone I could before the race…and in a flash of silver bike and blue and yellow kit the rider in front of me was a strrewn about the entire width of the trail. With no option I skidded to a stop hit the stones and got back up almost instantly. No damage done, I was back in the race very quickly. Up the following hill, the race had already written it’s outcome for me, the initial pace had me struggling, so it was survival mode for the next 2 hours. At one point in lap three on the ascent up Gravity Cavity, as I attempted to not hate everyone of these terrible roots and rocks, one hamstring locked up as the other thigh went the same route. I finished in the exact same condition as last year, legs full of contaminants seizing up like a 73′ Gran Torino with a hole in the oil pan, teammates screaming in my face. It’s good stuff, I love the Meltdown, and I can’t wait till next year.

The first of what felt like a thousand deaths (okay, only four) up the Grassy Downhill.

So two days have passed, I woke up this morning feeling almost paralyzed from Sunday’s effort. Being up until almost 3am to paint the dining room I am sure had something to do with it, but yeah I am all knotted up. I even commuted on my dirt bike today, embarassingly enough something that I have only done once before in my history of commuting to Bensenville. All knotted up from Sunday’s Meltdown, I feel like I am smuggling golf balls in my calves.