Prepared... Or Not.

So, a few weeks ago KPD(soon to be S) rolled out to the Amish country for my first race of the 2011 'cross season. It didn't take long for me to come to the realization that I was completely unprepared for anything except actually racing my bicycle. I had my kit, shoes, helmet gloves and bike, which I guess is the important stuff. But that was it... No proper warm up gear (there was snow, inches of snow! on the ground). No food at all for before or after the race. No tools at all - not even a multi tool to change the seat height on the pit bike. I don't even think I had a pump with me. Maybe it's because my last race had been in September when it was warm and sunny? I'd like to say that it's because I simply forgot how to prepare for 'cross... but the reality is, I was barely prepared enough to ride a bike. All I know is that I warmed up in my North Face puffy winter coat and some winter gloves. It was embarrassing and and it was borderline non-functional. Oh, so pro.

It's always a scramble for me the morning of; making sure I have a clean kit, gathering my nutritional items, searching, scrounging... right! I need to make breakfast... remembering something I need and then searching the house for it. It's pretty ridiculous.

With two decades of racing (one way or another) under my belt, It's embarrassing that I don't have this dialed by now. I know that I should have a list of gear to run down when packing. Or I should have a "race day only" bag of "race day only" stuff that should be ready to go at a moments notice - shoes, socks, kit, helmet, gloves, base layer, warmers, nutrition, tools, air, tubes... hell, I just came up with most of the list in about 25 seconds. Or maybe I should have my gear organized so that at least I know where to find that elusive glove rather than scouring the several locations around the house, where it might be: laundry room (pile of clean clothes), laundry room (Tupperware glove bin - wait, we have an actual place for gloves?), laundry room (pile of dirty clothes), the bedroom closet, the coat closet, the bag of misfit socks and gloves, the garage (workbench), the garage (shelves), the garage (various bins of bike related crap that is and never will be used), either one of the two cars.

Yesterday was "next time." It was about 60°, sunny, dry and breezy. Running down the list, I fared better than last time, but had two major omissions.
I had:

• Enough tools to properly break down and rebuild a bike.
• Enough winter outdoorsy gear to traverse the Iditarod, on foot.
• Water
• 2 x kit (socks, shoes, jersey, shorts, gloves, helmet, glasses, arm warmers)
• Bike

What I didn't have but needed desperately:

• Cycling wind breaker for warming up - my baggy ass running jacket from years ago is just silly. Also, the stupid thing got caught on my saddle and put me into the ground pretty hard. on a pre-race hot lap.
• Nutrition - I was hungry before my warm up and had nothing to eat. I started to warm up and my stomach was growling. Halfway through the race, I came completely unglued to the point that I was delirious. After loading up on crap at a convenience store, I felt like a million bucks.

So basically, I didn't have the two of same things that I was lacking last time. The only difference is that this time I had some tools, "just in case" I needed them. Yeah, that went well. Let's try this again... This time, it'll be in text, on the Internet. It's on the Internet, so it'll have to work.

I hereby vow to have my shit together next time.