Winter Park Tipperary Creek race
So i've been anxiously looking forward to this race. It's a good one and would be my most challenging so far on the SS. ~4000ft of elevation gain in 25 miles. i was worried i wouldn't be able to ride the climbs.
I settled on 32x20 gearing for this one.
The day didn't start off so well. If i hadn't promised to drive Sasha and Tom to the race - I would have bailed. Dave and I have been having some rocky times and of course we ended up having a very emotional discussion the night before. Needless to say I barely got any sleep and I was super bummed out. We have tenatively worked things out (again) but I wasn't feeling so good due to the lack of sleep. Not exactly the right of frame of mind to be prepping for a race. But so it goes...
Since I had already pre-registered I figured I'd go ahead and race and see how it went.
There we 4 of us SSers at the start. The usual suspects, Marla and Jo and another girl. The start is a 3 mile flatish dirt road and we start off with the Expert girls. We were all running 32x20 gears. We got dropped in a hurry as we spun out on the flat road - there was a small climb about 2 miles in and the other SSers dropped me. owww...I couldn't seem to climb any faster. crap - that sucked.
i sucked it up and kept cranking. Next is a 40ish minute climb @ 8% grade. I was very pleased I was able to ride up everything. Next comes a fast and furious 4mile rocky descent. Based on Tom's recommendation I was running 32psi. i was running tubes so I was hoping that would be enough to keep me from flatting.
The Sport Men started 10 minutes after us and so I was hoping to crest the climb before Tom caught up to me. And sure enough - just as I hit the descent Tom came blasting by. I let go of the brakes and tried to keep up with him. Then I felt it - yep - you guessed it - I flatted.
CRAP!!!!!! SH!T!!! What can you do - i threw in a tube and used a C02 to fill up the tire. it seemed pretty hard - i jumped back on the bike and 2 minutes later i'm getting my groove on and then i felt my rim hit and heard it 'psssssssssttttt'.
Yep - i flatted again. So here I am on the 1st descent with 18 miles to go with no more tubes or C02. I walked until someone lent me a pump and I patched my tire and pumped it up.
By this time I had lost over 20minutes. I decided to DNF.
I was pretty bummed out - I think i was on track to beat my geared time from last year. sigh...
Oh well...I have 3 more chances to prove my mettle before the season ends. Keystone, The Fall Classic and 24 hours of Moab.
I settled on 32x20 gearing for this one.
The day didn't start off so well. If i hadn't promised to drive Sasha and Tom to the race - I would have bailed. Dave and I have been having some rocky times and of course we ended up having a very emotional discussion the night before. Needless to say I barely got any sleep and I was super bummed out. We have tenatively worked things out (again) but I wasn't feeling so good due to the lack of sleep. Not exactly the right of frame of mind to be prepping for a race. But so it goes...
Since I had already pre-registered I figured I'd go ahead and race and see how it went.
There we 4 of us SSers at the start. The usual suspects, Marla and Jo and another girl. The start is a 3 mile flatish dirt road and we start off with the Expert girls. We were all running 32x20 gears. We got dropped in a hurry as we spun out on the flat road - there was a small climb about 2 miles in and the other SSers dropped me. owww...I couldn't seem to climb any faster. crap - that sucked.
i sucked it up and kept cranking. Next is a 40ish minute climb @ 8% grade. I was very pleased I was able to ride up everything. Next comes a fast and furious 4mile rocky descent. Based on Tom's recommendation I was running 32psi. i was running tubes so I was hoping that would be enough to keep me from flatting.
The Sport Men started 10 minutes after us and so I was hoping to crest the climb before Tom caught up to me. And sure enough - just as I hit the descent Tom came blasting by. I let go of the brakes and tried to keep up with him. Then I felt it - yep - you guessed it - I flatted.
CRAP!!!!!! SH!T!!! What can you do - i threw in a tube and used a C02 to fill up the tire. it seemed pretty hard - i jumped back on the bike and 2 minutes later i'm getting my groove on and then i felt my rim hit and heard it 'psssssssssttttt'.
Yep - i flatted again. So here I am on the 1st descent with 18 miles to go with no more tubes or C02. I walked until someone lent me a pump and I patched my tire and pumped it up.
By this time I had lost over 20minutes. I decided to DNF.
I was pretty bummed out - I think i was on track to beat my geared time from last year. sigh...
Oh well...I have 3 more chances to prove my mettle before the season ends. Keystone, The Fall Classic and 24 hours of Moab.
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