Rain, Rain, Rain--the forecast for this weekend screamed of rain. I was not looking forward to racing the first race of the season in the mud. Not only is it painful and frustrating, it's hard on the equipment. After last year's race during Hurricane Ike, I had to change my brake pads.
We got up at 0'dark-thirty and loaded the van with 3 bikes and 4 people. On the back was the trailer that would haul Jason's new E-bay purchase. Coincidentally, the Hobie 18 he bought was only 12 miles from our race course--how convenient. (The link isn't the one we bought--it's just a cool pic I googled of a wild ride!)
To our surpise, the course was in perfect condition; not tacky and not dusty. The temps hovered in the low 60s with sunshine and a gentle breeze. Who could ask for better conditions?
I entered the woods in 7th out of a surprising turnout of 9 or 10 women Expert & Pro riders. This was a big field (for a women's category) as the Northern Indiana Fat and Skinny Tire Fest brought crowds from all the surrounding midwestern states. I quickly caught up to 5th & 6th place with Meredith right behind me. I stayed on their wheels until I fully recovered and found a chance to pass. The Winona Lake trail is very twisty with few places to pass; the Cat 2 guys in front of us were super cool allowing us to get around quickly.
Three quarters of the way through the first of 2 laps, I saw the 4th place rider and was getting ready to make my move when a tree jumped out in front of me. As I turned a right-hand corner to go down a little hill, my handle bar clipped a tree taking my front wheel out from under me. My thought process went something like this:
1) Crap, I just hit the tree with my bar; that's bad.
2) Maybe I won't go down.
3) Ahhhh, I'm going down!
4) Ahhhh, my calf hurts! Can I walk?
I went flying through the air and landed off the trail getting banged up and bruised up during my sweep of the forest. Deciding I was fit to ride, I picked my bike up and noticed the flat front tire. UGH. I got out my CO2 cartridges and expended both of them without successfully inflating the tire (they're tubeless). Then, I remembered I brought a tube to put in it; YES! Uh oh--I just used all my air. So, I did the walk of shame with bike in tow to the finish line.
Note that my brand new helmet given to me by the Bicycle Station was unscathed in this debacle. An inventory of injuries includes bruised calf, scraped/bruised quad, bruised inner thigh, scraped/bruised shoulder, bruised nose (where my sunglasses hit presumably--thankfully no vision or nasal problems), and a slightly strained wrist or forearm.
To make up for Saturday's lackluster performance, I managed to do 2 road rides on Sunday in an effort to ramp up fitness. The first was a 40-mile Randi ride heading towards Paragon and back, and the second was a 13-mile stroll by Lake Lemon. Tomorrow is a recovery ride. Woohoo! In addition to the ramped up bicycle time, I'm looking forward to screaming around Lake Lemon on the new Hobie.
2 comments:
I don't know why you say your race was a lackluster performance. SHit happens, crashes mean you were pushing hard, I don't think that means lackluster at all. A next race is always just around the corner.
Yeah, I guess I used 'lackluster' b/c I didn't get that feeling of satisfaction when crossing the finish line. I was pleased with my performance up to the crash. I felt like I was getting in a zone for the most part.
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