velochicken: The Good, the Bad, and the Really Ugly

The Good. Hagerstown AVC Cross Race. B Race at 10 am. Foggy, wet and a course with about a hundred tight, twisty turns with one of those being a downhill offcamber. Things were going well. I had a good start and was in the lead group that had separated itself from the rest of the field. Unfortunately I had the most inopportune crash. I was sitting on Spaznogle's wheel when I went down in the sand pit. Her coach happened to be right there when it happened and promptly starting shouting to her "Attack! Attack! She's down! Go for it!". She was able to open up a 20 second gap which I was unable to close. I'm told that I was gaining on her but it didn't matter. Second place, but one step up on the podium from last week. Pretty good.

The Bad. Hagerstown AVC Cross Race. A Race at 1:30. After eating a hot dog, chips, and downing a Gatorade I was "ready" for the A race. The course was riding differently now that it had warmed up and was sunny. Instead of being slick and wet, the turns were dry and dusty. No problem, I actually prefer that. At the start I lined up in the back, not wanting to get in anyone's way, and well, that's where I stayed. I actually had a nice start, but then my bike broke. I couldn't shift gears. This problem had cropped up earlier in the B race but I ignored it as it mysteriously corrected itself. But now, in this race, with these fast women, it was important to be in the right gear. I quickly found myself dropped. I signaled for a bike change and made the exchange in the pit. On the next lap, my friends told me they had "fixed" my bike and would I like to make another exchange. Of course I wanted my A bike so I rolled into the pit for a second bike change. Problem is, they had not fixed it. Apparently they couldn't find anything wrong with it and thought I was making excuses. Well, I wasn't making excuses and after the run-up when you really need to drop it down into a big gear, it wouldn't go. I used the rest of the race as a training ride and came in DFL. You figure it out. At least it wasn't DNF.

The Really Ugly? Well my bike is at the shop. Hopefully it will be fixed before Iron Cross this weekend.

Some notes from the day. K Lo had a great race. Diane is known as "Monkey". Charley the Dog ate my Girl Scout Cookies (I won the cookies, a pair of "Mom" socks, and a case of RockStar in the B race). Cross racing hurts. Thanks to Sonja and Jim Wilson for the photos below.

Me on Cynthia's wheel during the opening lap