Hey! What Was That?!?!

It's always an adventure. Always.

Today, S and I were on the road bright and early at 6am. Typical pre-race morning - we threw the bikes on the car, grabbed giant to-go cups of coffee and settled in to watch the sun rise. Beautiful, crisp, clear morning and we had the road all to ourselves for the most part. Only other cars cruising out on the Mass Pike were wackos like us or those with a super long drive to visit mom. About 30 min into our drive, cruising in the middle lane around 80mph, I hear a THUMP that most definitely was NOT coming from the stereo. "Hey! What the f*&^&% was that?!?!" Instinctively, I check the rear view mirror and much to my shock and horror, I see one mtb wheel bounce off the hatch, hop a few times in middle lane, and just keep rolling down the pike. Eventually, it crosses to the high speed lane and flops down next to the jersey barrier. Immediately, we pulled over to breakdown turned and looked at each other, eyes WIDE, "What do we do?!?!?!" The other thoughts going through my mind were, "Whose wheel was it?!?!" quickly followed by, "If it's mine, will hers work on my bike?" While S called the Staties, I opened the sunroof and saw my wheel sitting there safe and sound. The trooper on the line said they'd send someone to help out and while we waited I watched the wheel in the rearview mirror, mentally steering approaching vehicles away from it. I was certain it was going to be smashed to bits, or worse yet, hurt someone. Within five minutes, a trooper arrived and after briefly chatting with us, flicked on his lights and siren, drove backward, crossed three lanes of traffic and retrieved the wheel. Inspecting it upon return, it looked practically perfect - just a tiny scratch on the skewer handle. Rather than throwing it back on the rack, we threw it in the backseat, safely on suicide watch (S was certain that the wheel threw itself off the car in despair since she wasn't planning on racing.)

The race got off to the same kind of start. Arrived early enough to pre-ride the course but should have asked which direction it went as I ended up missing the first part of the course. Then there was the fact that I found myself somewhere in the middle of the woods, no idea how close I was to the Start/Finish and less than 30 min to the start. Oh, yeah, and I took a swim in the mud pit as well during the pre-ride along with a few good falls. The overall result: I arrived at the start line slightly out of breath, muddy and bloody. I'm not sure if that intimidates the other riders or if they look at me, think "LOSER!" and decide to ride no where near me.

As we're waiting for the start, one of the riders mentions the first part of the course (missed in the pre-ride) and the wet roots (Hate roots. Just hate them!). Uh, oh. Quick shuffling of goals: #1) get the hole shot or close to it. REALLY didn't want to be in the back of the pack with tons of riders down in front. The red head who won the 19-34 division at Farmington was in the pack. I knew she was a good rider - fast and fluid over even the more technical stuff. Figured she'd go for the hole shot so I decided I'd jump on her wheel and hang there as long as possible.

Whistle goes off, she jumps out front, and as planned I'm right on her wheel, second into the woods. I keep telling myself to floor it over the roots, keep up my speed and momentum and DON'T THINK, let the bike find the line, don't force it. And it totally worked. Skimmed right over the dreaded roots and while I was dusted by the red head, I seemed to have put quite a serious distance between me and the rest of the pack.

I rode the rest of the race pretty much on my own. Early in the first lap I had one nasty fall, lost the chain and ended up getting passed by two women. Every time through the deep mud pit, I fell, one of the falls being a spectacular endo. My bike and I looked like we'd been dipped in chocolate. Delicious! Toward the end of the first lap, I was feeling pretty tired and actually began to doubt whether doing a second lap was wise.
Headed out on the 2nd lap. Ate my GU in the feed zone which was followed by a swoopy up and down, fast section of the course and I was totally revitalized. Rode the second lap better than the first (seems to be the norm with me.) With 10 minutes to go, I jammed my middle ring with a chunk of wood and the rear derailleur was so coated in muck it wasn't shifting too well either. Between that and the fact that my rear tire was flat (didn't notice until I returned to the car at the end), I felt pretty slow going into the finish.

I really enjoyed the course. Slightly less rocky than Glocester, more stream crossings, more mud and I really liked all the practice on the roots. I feel like I'm riding better and stronger.



Final result: 1st in Beginner Women 35+, 4th overall. Oh, yeah, and I captured the Series Leader Jersey!