The days before Nationals

Since pre-riding my anxiety and nervousness grew every day. I was just worried that I would have a lack-luster race for no determinable reason-similar to the race in Colorado Springs. I told myself not to worry, save my energy for racing, just focus on feeling strong, etc. But, the nerves remained. I devised strategies to help me stay cool: wear an ice-filled camel back, pack ice into my jersey pockets, get two bottles per lap-one for drinking one for dousing, etc. Still the nerves remained.
The Wednesday before Nationals I raced the Boulder Short track. To my relief I felt strong and won pretty easily-always a good confidence booster! That improved the nerves a little. Thursday morning I got a message that really helped open up some tight spots that were really bothering me. Thursday afternoon I decided to head up to the race that night so that I would be able to get another pre-ride in and just have the rest of the day Friday to relax before the race. So, after work I started packing all my stuff and getting my bike ready. I took off my rear wheel to clean my bike and noticed that the rear hub was loose-so loose in fact that the whole thing came off in my hand. I panicked. I threw bike and wheel into the car and sped off to the Trek Boulder Store. Dave, one of those owners, took one look at my wheel, one look at my grease smudged, panicked face and said "hmm, that doesn't seem quite right. Leave the wheel with me and I'll either fix it or bring you a new one tomorrow morning at the race venue". So, I left the wheel, finished packing and headed up to the Tanner Cabin in Devil's Thumb.
Friday morning, Dave and Brian, owners of the Trek Bike Store and Cutting Edge Sports, were in the parking lot at the race venue with a perfectly functioning wheel. Whew! Dave then preceeded to give my bike a complete tune-he checked the wheels, he shimmed the brakes, he adjusted the deraileur, he tuned my suspension. It was awesome. I then took my like new bike and played around on the mountain for awhile-scoping out the course and cheering for the Tokyo Joes junior and U23 women. I felt good!
I went back to the Tanner Cabin and lounged for the rest of the day. Ah, the life!