You did a great job and if you need to because of injury limitations etc., just use your next race for training.

I've lived with back trouble all my life it seems like. Broke my back in my early to mid 20's when I fell off my own horse!

It can be really hard to take, but just take every day at a time. I have found that yoga and stretching really help me. It doesn't get rid of the pain, but it helps immensely, allows me to do more and not have to just cry uncle!

For many years, and especially when I was first starting to race road and mountain bikes, I just used my early season races for training, and then would try to focus on getting better at the end of the year. It works!

Hope you start feeling better soon.