Ha.

Because my leg felt decent enough, despite some serious brutality, I rode to the team races on Friday. I was planning on just working a corner and eating cake, but I decided at the last second to jump in. I couldn't bend my leg more than 45 degrees without it feeling tight, but it didn't hurt to pedal easy. My thinking was that I would jump in, see how I felt, and get my mass-finish -- 11 or 12 I need to upgrade to 3, where I'm sure I'll live out my days.

At the start, I sprinted off the line as if I were in a CX race and after the first lap as a leader, I settled in to the front of the pack. The legs felt decent and I was putting in good power into the wind. Third lap in, some riders touched wheels in the back and someone went down -- I pulled off to see if it was one of my guys and I moved to the back of the group, which is right at the same time that the front riders, all of which were killing the races earlier in the week, took off to form the break that would finish the race. The pack was smaller because most riders were scheduled to do the Burnham Supercrit the next day in Beloit.

I spent the rest of the time riding hard and easy with teammates and friends contesting sprints and working on my cornering. Afterward, we all indulged in some major sweetness and Amy gave me a lift home because Allison hadn't yet returned from Cincinnati. Once home, my left leg started stiffening up and I knew I'd made something of a mistake. I was registered to race the Burnham race in the 3/4 and all I wanted to do was survive, which if I wanted to do, I wouldn't have raced hard the night before.

Saturday morning, I could barely walk. I did some stretches and walked around in the apartment for a bit before Chris came over to pick me, Joe and Adam up. I was half-thinking I'd skip racing and spin easy on the trainer, but at race time, I was up in the front of the line. I spent a long time warming up in the cold and wind, so by the time I had to race with some heart, I had some heat in my legs.

The first two laps were easy -- one rider went off the front and no one chased him down, letting him dangle out there to tire out. At the start of the third lap, I went off on a flyer with another racer and after he dropped back after 1/2 a lap, I was out there by myself, hurting myself and looking brave and foolish. Joe tried to bring me back in, but I was too spent and cramped-up to do anything so we creeped back in to the car and loaded up for home. Sorry about that.

Yesterday, I felt like trash. Any recovery I'd made since I'd hurt myself was lost in racing two days. I got on the trainer and spun for 1/2 hour and then went to the Lincoln Park Conservatory with Allison, walking all over the park and the Nature Museum for most of the afternoon.

Before I went to bed last night, I took some ibuprofen to try to relieve any swelling or pain. This morning, the leg was hurting even worse. I'm registered for Hillsboro-Roubaix this weekend and if things don't improve, I ain't going. Seeing as how I dropped $30+ on that race, let's hope they do.