"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Your Mental Wuss story

Enough of this ridiculous war story crap. Tell us about the time you wussed out.

Uhm... how about every single descent where I wasn't one of the first few riders?

Everytime I say to myself "this is all I can do"

Hi,

Most recently this past February when it rained before a crit that I had pre-entered. I watched several races before mine is a steady rain and left about 45 min before the start of mine. I pretty much don't start races in the rain. Anyway, saw photos from the race and the rain had stopped and the road was mostly (not completely :rolleyes: ) dry. :o

Told my buddy whose club was promoting the event that my entry was a donation to his club this year.

http://futility.typepad.com/futility/images/0disappointed_1.jpg

These stories aren't de-inspirational enough. You can do better than that. Seriously.

Pretty much every ride that I listen to that little voice that tells me that I am hurting, and back off. Which is like all the time.

Today; I chose to do actual work (for once) instead of the ride I had planned on.

That's as good as it gets. I suck, but tend not to wuss out. Ok, when my first son was being born, I was lightheaded for a bit towards the end, but we had been up for over 30 hours, and in the sense of solidarity, I hadn't eaten either. My wife, however, performed flawlessly.

I slept in today. And yesterday. And Sunday, too. I'm tired and probably won't be up early tomorrow.

I rode with my team from Los Angeles to Fresno for the Pine Flats Road Race. Since there were no other entrants in my junior age, I signed up for the cat 4 race. The start included a neutral climb out of the harbor, which was steep and demoralizing. I then hung on for the first 5 miles of the 52 mile race then found the shortcut to watch my teammate finish with the pack in the cat 3 group, followed by the other teammate who was off the back but finished it anyway.

I qualified 0.01 seconds behind a guy 1 year younger than me in the District Championships sprints. Since I didn't throw up or have an asthma attack after the trial, I know I didn't push myself hard enough.

Ummmm, every time I commute home I tell myself this is the time I'm gonna do the local TT run in less than 17 minutes. The local record is 12, so 17 shouldn't be too hard right? EVERY TIME i do over 17, sometimes over 18, and if I'm feeling completely unmotivated over 19. Although its an uphill TT and I'm a sprinter, so I really shouldn't even bother :rolleyes: I'm kidding myself.

Sometimes I say to myself this is the time I do the entire hill out of the saddle or in the big ring. Never actually done it yet.

Enough of this ridiculous war story crap. Tell us about the time you wussed out.

You're implying that I wussed out once?

Finally a thread I can relate to.
I wussed out by not training enough in 100+ degree weather. So when the time came to race in it, I cracked. It ended my season on a bad note and I've been kicking myself ever since.

Another poster on this board and myself drove to the Cadeaux Cafe crit (the old bumpy course). Getting out of the car we noticed that the first turn was even worse than in the past!

Keep in mind this is a late season race, (think it was #40 or so on my calendar). Rather than face 50 laps getting beat to death we packed our stuff back up drove home and played 18.

I never wuss out. Seriously. I've DNF'ed 2x. Once was because I had to lose some cookies, and the other was because I hurt worse than ever before. Both times in a training crit.

I just finished a 4 hour MTB sufferfest this weekend, where I should have DNF'ed after the first lap, but I finished it anyways. Still feeling that one :(

The first time I rode the NYC Century I wussed-out and did the 75 mile route. Booo!

I never wuss out.

There are two types of cyclists: those who have wussed out, and those who are going to wuss out.

State Criterium championship last year. First turn first lap rear wheel slides, I stay up right but am thinking WTF. Happens again second lap. I'm convinced there is something wrong with the bike, so I drop to the back, thinking the tire is going flat. ( I think it had a very slow leak, making it a little squirrely).

While I'm thinking about what to do, and whether to pack it in, couple hundred yard gap develops.
I decided that it was ridculous to drive 4 hours to race 2 laps, so I tried to chase back on, in futility, all the time cursing myself for sitting up.

My hero never really wusses out:

http://game-accessibility.com/pics/forum/plankton.jpg

Some sweet day the Secret Crabby Patty Formula will be all HIS. Hey botto, do you get Spongebob on TV in Amsterdam or Flanders or whatever bizarre Euro expatriate place you currently reside?

If not, reason alone to come back to NY.

it is.

it is.

It's comforting to learn those heathen Euros have SOME American Culture. Tell me they have the Simpsons on TV and my day will be complete.

For me, it's usually the 5:00am mornings when I *should* be getting in the shower and then suiting up to ride in to the train but where I instead hit snooze 3 times, make myself a coffee, and drive to the train instead.

Then there are the times when I know I have the free time to put in an extra 10-20 miles but turn around and head home because riding solo is so freakin' boring.

I am the BF resident wuss.

Apparently when meeting with a US congressional delegation a few weeks ago, Iraq's National Security Advisor couldn't be bothered to turn off SpongeBob: linky (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/30/AR2007083001848.html?hpid=topnews) to Washington Post article. Reference about half way through -- it doesn't actually say it was SpongeBob, but we all know it was. One Congressperson's response paraphrased, "it was bizarre, but at least they're using the latest technology."

My latest wuss story.

Woke up after late on Saturday, feeling jetlagged and hung over from a birthday party the night before.

Had an hour to get up, eat, and get out the door to race.

Heard some rain, hit snooze. Continued to hit the snooze. Eventually got out of bed around the time the race was finished.



The older i get, the more often this seems to happen. One of the best reasons i found for catting up is the later in the day race starts.

Me a Wuss...never...Just because when I come down stairs in my "cycling" clothes and my lovely wife gives me that look and ask me "are YOU going riding" and I respond "Um...why". At which point she explains the other priorities that I should have and I end up back in the same spot 10 minutes later in my "work" clothes; that doesn't make me a Wuss...does it? :o

Me a Wuss...never...Just because when I come down stairs in my "cycling" clothes and my lovely wife gives me that look and ask me "are YOU going riding" and I respond "Um...why". At which point she explains the other priorities that I should have and I end up back in the same spot 10 minutes later in my "work" clothes; that doesn't make me a Wuss...does it? :o

Nope, just makes you married. At least, if that makes you a wuss, then I must retract my earlier assertion about my non-wussiness. So no, you are not a wuss.

The older i get, the more often this seems to happen. One of the best reasons i found for catting up is the later in the day race starts.

The race was at 1PM. It only takes me 15 minutes to ride out to the course. :D :o

The race was at 1PM. It only takes me 15 minutes to ride out to the course. :D :o

Damn that was some hangover. ;)

Damn that was some hangover. ;)

i knew i was in trouble when i started drinking a lithuanian version of jagermeister around 3AM when the beer ran out...

europe. :rolleyes:

Solo rock climbing. I get half way up this gully and the thing turns to choss, gravelly and slippery. Decided I needed to rap and go around a different way.

Wussing out for biking is more about laziness or wanting more comfortable conditions than fear.

Solo rock climbing. I get half way up this gully and the thing turns to choss, gravelly and slippery. Decided I needed to rap and go around a different way.

Wussing out for biking is more about laziness or wanting more comfortable conditions than fear.

race much?

The hometown for my team was putting on a race and I was shamed into volunteering as a corner guard for some races before my race. In a citizen's race, this guy goes off the road in the fastest section of the course, hits the curb and launches head first into a concrete abuttment. He lands on the ground and convulses for a while before going still. All if this happenede within about 10 feet of me.

Needless to say, I was not agressive in my race and almost didn't start. It took me several races to get that image out of my head and be able to be aggressive again.

By the way, the guy was fine. Two days later he walks into the LBS where I worked and I though I was seeing Lazarus. Bruised shoulder and some road rash but no major ill effects.

I said to myself after joining a bike club---ah I'll "try" to "race" next year...

...there I got you all beat.

Apparently when meeting with a US congressional delegation a few weeks ago, Iraq's National Security Advisor couldn't be bothered to turn off SpongeBob: linky (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/30/AR2007083001848.html?hpid=topnews) to Washington Post article. Reference about half way through -- it doesn't actually say it was SpongeBob, but we all know it was. One Congressperson's response paraphrased, "it was bizarre, but at least they're using the latest technology."

I found this rather amusing, but then I'm not the widower of an American serviceman or woman who died fighting for these morons.

Just last night I was doing a ride to the Rose Bowl and back and ran into the 10 lap crowd. I decided to hop on and see how long I could hang on for. My heart started pounding and I started panting, and I peeled off after about 1/2 mile (or less)

I found this rather amusing, but then I'm not the widower of an American serviceman or woman who died fighting for these morons.

I'll try to avoid political commentary, but I've moved beyond being amused to just being sad. Had lunch with one of my best students (recent grad) earlier this summer just before he shipped out for his 15 months. I've got several ROTC members in my classes, most of whom will likely be deployed absent a major draw down of forces. They will all, of course, willingly go and serve proudly and honorably though many question the wisdom of the policy itself. They are not wussy. The bad news for Iraq is whether we stay or go, the immediate and middle-range future for your average Iraqi looks pretty bleak if anything political scientists have learned from studying this kind of conflict holds remotely true.

Crit, I think it was in Fond du Lac. It was the day after Grafton, where I crashed twice. (should say, I was crashed twice) It started raining during registration, so I decided not to register because I was paranoid about crashing. It turned out that it dried up during the race.

At least I didn't have to clean my bike.:cry::cry:

In my third race I noted that I was going a lot faster than most of the rest of the group on a curving descent that ended about 1k before the finish. I soloed right before the descent and then went as hard as I could on the downhill. On the third to last turn, I skidded out my rear wheel on the last turn and flew sideways into some hay bales. I got up, checked out my bike and myself and decided I could finish. Just then the group came through and I thought, "I can make it for the sprint." Then the marshal ran up and said, "Dude, you're OK?! I'm surprised you're ALIVE!" I thought, "Forget this guy, I can do it." I bent my knee to swing my leg over my bike and felt the pain of an abrasion. Just like that, I lost it all and bailed. It was a nice roll back to the car.

Unless it's dead straight I wuss on the 45-50mph curvy descents everytime.

Last April, I woke up on raceday to 25 degree temperatures and blustery winds. Screw it, I thought, why drive two hours for a race that will probably be cancelled anyway.

It wasn't cancelled.

If I had gone, I would have gotten 25 points in the series standings just for starting.

At the end of the series, I lost the overall by 20 points.

Yep.