We went to Miami because Judi had a conference at a hotel in Coconut Grove.
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| racing the shadow of my bike |
I googled around a bit to find a group ride nearby and found a cross race instead…. 5ish miles from the hotel
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| the veiw of Biscane Bay from our Hotel |
I broke my derailleur hanger the week before and lucky for me a replacement came in the mail on Thursday. I replaced it that night but… shifting was not working too well. I hoped to find a mechanic at the race who might be able to help me out.
Found the race… and headed to registration. A 10 year old girl was in charge… and within minutes I was signed up for 35+ and Men's 4 and felt assured that this would be okay and that I would have an hour between the two.
No mechanic… shifting was front derailleur only and iffy
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| the flyover |
1st race:
Not just 35+ but P/1/2 as well… I felt like an idiot in my t-shirt (forgot to pack a jersey) and cycling shorts amid all of the serious looking dudes in skinsuits. I almost just walked away before the gun…
But I stayed… last into the first corner in my granny gear and pretty much held onto the back of the pack for the first lap… flyover was fun… course was okay.. but with only decent handing skills and no ability to use my power I ended DFL and 2 laps down after 60 minutes.
I cooled down a bit and started to eat a sandwich when I heard the Men's 4 call-up on the loudspeaker. WTF? It seems that my advisors at registration had encouraged me to sign up for back to back races.
2nd Race
Granny gear sprint slated me last in the sprint for the first corner…
2 laps in I miraculously get my chain securely into the big ring… worked my way up a bit higher than mid-pack by the finish.
Post-race:
So tired… splitting headache… but grinning from how much fun I had.
1 comment:
That's awesome! It sounds like you need to get some bike work done before the next race. If you had everything working well, I bet you could have done pretty decent! Way to have fun anyway!
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