Note to self: Don't race when you're sick

I did two races this weekend.  The first was called School Yard Cross and was in Lafayette, CO, about 20 min from my house.  This race was put on by my previous team, Rocky Mounts, and they did a great job.  The course was pretty flat, had several low-speed switch backs, and was relatively smooth.  There was also a mud pit.

I was feeling frisky from the start and they said there was a sunglasses prime for the first lap leader, so I decided to bury myself from the gun.  I started from the 2nd row, but because the start was a fairly long chute, I was able to move up and take the holeshot into the first turn.  My legs and lungs felt great, and I had a very slight gap for the whole first lap and most of the 2nd lap.  Then, I started to fade a little bit and moved back to about 8th position before clawing my way back towards the end of the race and picking off a couple riders on the final laps to finish 6th.

Sunday was a whole different story.  I had the race cough after Saturday's race and was feeling sick on Sunday, but there weren't many races left, so I decided to give it a go.  That was a bad decision.  As I pre-rode the course, I was having trouble breathing and I was coughing a bit.  I had already signed up though, so I gave it a shot.  Well, I crashed on the first lap (totally my fault for taking a bad line on a tight switchback), then moved up a few spots to about 8th by the 2nd lap, but on the 4th lap, my body checked out and I went from around 8th to around 20th in one lap.  I pulled off after the next lap and went home.  I shouldn't have raced anyway, but now I know what my body feels like when I shouldn't race!  Lesson learned.