Crashsome Race

Some people call this Tiger Rag or the Clemson Race.  Not me.  And it started so well, oh so so well.  It may have been my best start ever.

After preriding the unmarked race course on Friday in a thunderstorm and getting totally lost, I didn't have high hopes for this race.  But I had to drive down to Atlanta Sunday for a meeting on Monday, so I really couldn't miss it.  I mean I was driving right by.

I lined up in a group of 16 girls, 3 of them pros.  It was almost laughable.  Not only am I going to start with the pros.  I'm going to race and be scored with them.  Hilarious!

So I lined up in the back and joked that I'd sweep.  Another girl chimed in that she'd join me.  This is going to be fun, right?

Ready, set, go!  We travel down the gravel road for a minute and then head into the single track and I find myself in like 5th place.  Wow, this is cool.  I've never felt like this before. The girls are pushing hard in front of me and even harder behind me. 

Watching them take turns at speed and float over terrain allowed me to do the same.  It felt like I was going faster than I ever had.  It was awesome.  I was able to maintain this position for several minutes up and down hills, through single track and gravel roads, I held my spot and felt so good.

I glided over a crazy, loose, wooden bridge that my friend warned me about.  Then we head up a narrow hill.  I'm right behind the girl in front of me, no problem.  She crashed, I hit her and fall over.  I can't get unclipped.  I'm stuck.  There's no room to get up without holding up traffic.  The entire field passed me.  I was so mad. I finally got up and ran my bike up the hill until I could get back on and ride.

After a few minutes I was able to pass some of the girls back and gain some momentum.  There were three laps, it was a long race.  So I just tried to keep my head down and focus.  At the beginning of the second lap, I had a little crash.  I got up tired to pedal and realized my chain was off.  It fell to the inside of the little ring (I run an XO 2x10) and got stuck.  I tugged and pulled with no luck.  I flipped my bike over and tried again.  At this point I am getting so frustrated watching girls go by me that I passed minutes ago.

After what felt like forever, a nice guy pulled over to help me and it even took him a few minutes to fix it.  When I first got back on my bike, I tried to push, convert my anger and frustration into energy.  That didn't work very well.  But still I tried. 

At the end of the that second lap, I was done, mentally and physically.  It as hot, it was humid, and I had lost my position in the race twice.  And yet I still had 9.5 miles of a 28.5 mile race to go.  I was bonking.  I did my best to finish and just be done.

I came in 11th out of 16.  Pretty sad.  I'm not sure if I could have held that great start, but it would have been nice to try.