Monday, April 23, 2007

"mechanicals suck..."



to quote my friend Sonia...

and they do!





So the road race was full of weird happenings for me...and it wasn't a great one for me. The first lap was ok, no real issues there, in the pack, feeling good. The pace was pushed from the start--I knew we were in trouble when we weren't even done with one lap before passing some of the stragglers from the womens Pro/1/2/3 race which had started 3 minutes ahead! On the second lap, I dropped my chain shifting up into the big ring. I had been having trouble with my setup all week...and I had opened the stop up a tad to try and get teh derailleur to push the chain more...and it went too far and kicked it right over the top. I hooked it back on, but it took valuable seconds...and a gap formed. I chased back on, but the energy I had expended was too much, and then the hill came and there was a gap...damn. I tried really hard to stay on, but it was not happening. I was not that worried...as reckless descending is a skill I'm quite skilled at (have a nice grade 3 shoulder separation to show for a botched attempt last fall...), and I thought I could catch on. So after yet another dropped chain at the top of the hill, down I go...on the previous laps i hadn't truly been paying attention that much, I had just been riding in the pack..and partway down the hill were these cones in the road, and I couldnt remember which way to go! (and when you're dropped and there is no pace car, it was a free for all, traffic and everything) Needless to say I took a short wrong turn and remembered it was wrong, but of course lost more momentum and was really feeling lame! Anyway, I chased and chased and caught 2 people, adn the 3 of us worked together for a little bit, but then the hill came around again, and I decided to just go for it so I went on my own. I ended up finishing a couple minutes down, which was not bad considering all my mechanical issues AND the wrong turn! Ack....I just keep reminding myself I do this bike racing thing for fun! I ended up in 10th place in the GC after all that...not that it matters.

I spent a weekend racing my bike, and spending time with other people as psycho about their bikes as me, and that has to be a good weekend!

Next weekend...Devil's punchbowl!

Ciao!

2 comments:

Cynthia said...

You write great race reports! Great job catching people after your mechanicals.

You have a PHd in Mechanical Engineering? That is so cool! I come from a family of mechanical engineers, so family gatherings are always full of very strategically organized events...

Have you seen this blog?: http://www.cookingforengineers.com Funny, and so informative!

Kimberly (aka. DrKim) said...

Cynthia--that website is TOO funny! Thanks.