Stupid is as stupid does

What's the other one - "you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig." Well, I had one of those days yesterday.

It started out like any Tuesday. I got up early, was productive at work and was going to finish the day off riding the Mid-week Series XC race in Park City in the evening. All was well until I left for Park City.

I'll make it short.

I left home at 5:10 and headed to Park City for the 6:30ish race. Just before getting to Parley's Canyon I realized I forgot my GPS and called Jane to confirm my realization. She acknowledged my misque so I pulled off Foothill Drive to return home via Parley's Way. Insteading of driving over some stupid weeds I heading for the gravel and immediately high centered my Element on a boulder that came out of nowhere! Even when I was on it, it didn't register what had just happened. I was stuck and my AWD was doing nothing. I called Jane to bring a shovel and dug under the rock for a good 30 minutes before it was loose enough for my car to get free. Once free, I reluctantly headed to PC hoping to get there before registration ended so I could salvage some portion of my evening.

I got to the parking lot at 6:15 and couldn't find the registration table and assumed they had closed up shop. Damn!!! Fortunately Garrett and Brittany Kener directed me to the right spot and I got registered. Finally I'm back on track. Yes! But now there's no time for any kind of warm up so this was not gonna be pretty. I hop back in my car to change in to my Mad Dog kit and discover I didn't have it! I had left my riding clothes at home. Double damn it... I can't believe this. But, what a fitting end to a totally screwed up hour. What else is gonna happen?

But wait! Enter Mad Dog teammate Bruce Lyman and his trusty roll of black electrical tape. That was the answer. I rolled up my Kuhl pant legs, taped them down tight, tightened my leather belt, put my HR strap on under my T-shirt and headed to the start/finish line. NICE! I got quite a few strange looks but that added a nice flavor to what started out as a full blown fiasco. I did the race and had a blast. Bill Dark and I started and finished together and enjoyed a few laughs along the way. One word of caution - if you want to try racing in street pants, keep your belt loose or you won't be able to breathe - believe me.

Well, all's well that ends well. I didn't crash or take anybody out, and I actually had a good time. I've learned a lesson and I'm gonna put an extra pair of riding shorts and jersey in my bike bag so I'm prepared for my next brain fart episode.

And I'm gonna keep an eye out for those jumping boulders. Stupid is ...