DNF is an awful way to spell defeat or the story of my derailed derailleur

Tolerating all the pain and anguish that goes into a cyclocross race only to come out with a DNF next to your name is well... more painful than the race itself. I was doing great the entire race, well within my goals I set. Legs were jellied from all the running and inefficient mud cadence, but still I pushed through. Out of breath, heart pounding, and bike gives up on me. I'm not sure exactly how (know it has something to do with the several pounds of grass and mud caked on my bike) but my rear derailleur found itself wedged between my spokes making my bike immobile.

I couldn't even run it or anything, I had to shoulder it and was still a ways from the finish line so swallowed my pride and took a DNF. This happened on the second half of the last lap, and in retrospect, I should have just walked it. I would have given up the place I fought so hard to attain but at least I wouldn't have this overwhelming feeling of letting myself down.

Now I have to wait on new parts (Shimano LX this time, no more road derailleur for me) before I can race again. I'll hook up the old MTB to the trainer to make sure I still maintain some physique and hopefully on November 28th I'll be able to finish the season on a better note. Some spokes were also bent, but my wheel is actually perfectly trued. It's kind of funny because last night it wasn't. So at least something good came of this jam.

Still looking at lots of bikes. Going to try to ride a Trek 2.3 this weekend, as well as an entry level Madone, and see how they measure up to the Cannondale and TCR I was looking at. May go with the Alliance 0 instead of 1 because unsure how I feel about a compact crank for road. I'll get some opinions...