Fat-Faced Time Trialing on Black Diamond Road

"Carb-Face" is defined in the urban dictionary as "A fat or puffy face".  I believe it is the end result of some poor nutrional and fitness decisions that increase water retention while bloating up the fat cells in the facial area. I diagnosed myself with this condition after realizing I had gained nearly 5 pounds in the 24 hour period between Saturday and the Sunday morning of the Iowa City TT #1.  I couldn't even look myself in the mirror, literally, due to the shame and guilt I felt.  I had spent all day Saturday sleeping, watching TV, and eating Twizzlers and sugar cookies. 

While I am diagnosing and defining, I better look into the definition of Neuroticism : It is an enduring tendency to experience negative emotional states  such as anxiety, anger, guilt, and depression. Neurotic individuals respond  poorly to environmental stress, and are more likely to interpret ordinary situations as threatening...

Crap, that sort of fits the situation, hopefully this is more of a temporary state, then 'an enduring tendency'.  Was my fat-face really going to be a threat to my performance at that morning's TT?  Well, based on my relatively slow pace (compared to last year), I am assuming that maybe it was.  Mostly, however, times were slowed by the cold conditions that may have contributed to a bit of over-dressing combined with very brief warm-ups.  I did win the event overall, so that is never something to be taken for granted.

Pie or Beer?  Great... this is what we win at these local time trials... the two main causes of "Carb-Face".  I wish they would offer us sports bars/gels/drinks, or maybe even small cash pay-outs... as I really don't trust myself to take a pie home.  Most likely, I would eat the whole thing by myself as tears streamed down my swollen cheeks and engorged double chin... "Thanks... but no thanks".


Memorial Day Weekend Racing is fast approaching.  Below is a video page I created to help remind the locals about the race. 

The Muscatine Race has a relatively low spectator turn-out compared to the Burlington and Rock Island Crits, but we try and get the word out to the public, all the same.  I am thinking if we served beer (and pie?) we would get a little more interest from the general public.  Plenty of people around here like NASCAR, maybe if we gave them a Budwieser, that would give them something to cheer about and increase awareness/support for bike racing.