Surf City Cyclocross #1 -- Soquel HS

[telegirl]

First, how DO you remember the course like that???

Second, good for you on the scary downhill! Don't you love that feeling of conquest?!

Finally, I feel your pain - or at least your shortness of breath. Over the past two years, my asthma has kicked it up a notch, and I never know if it will be a good day or bad day. So major kudos to your finishing and then to your doing decently!

Riding through fear, asthma, a cold....you inspire me!

[miffy'sFuji]

I got a little worried as I was about 3/4 of the way through your post. whew.. I'm glad that in the end you knew what your body could do and you were okay!

[velogirl]

After five pre-ride laps and I can't remember how many in the race (6?), I remember every little bit of sand. I try to memorize the course so I can make my decisions about it and be committed to my choices. Sometimes I forget something and then I get sloppy.

I haven't had an asthma attack in a race since I finally went to a pulmonologist to get treated for it and my allergies (Feb 06). And I've never had one this bad. In retrospect, I don't know how I kept going. I'm still wheezy today.

[SheFly]

Good for you for finally conquering your fear of "the hill". That's a tough thing to do, especially in a race situation. Sounds like you had a blast, and that's what counts!

I'm still wheezing today, too, two days later... This asthma stuff stinks!

SheFly

[E2theD]

Lorri already told you guys all about the course in amazing detail, so I'll just give my ride report. I placed myself at the front of the C's, determined to get a good start. I was nervous, pre race jitters at the line, but they usually go away pretty quickly once the race begins. After bonking in my last race, I was fueled and ready to go. The course was really technical and there were a few switchbacks I had issues with in the pre ride but I always seem to improve when the race begins. So the official blows the whistle and all 18 C women are off. The first section was all gravel with a small track cleaned off just big enough for one bike. We are all fighting for the line. At the first switch back there are lots of girls right on top of each other and I go down and realize that my hand has somehow become caught in between the rider next to me's fork and tire. Pretty scary stuff but I was able to pull it out with no damage. I hop back on my bike and continue trying to make up for the positions I had lost. By the 2nd lap I'm feeling better and really beginning to get in to the course. I start passing riders ahead of me one by one and feel like I'm making my way back to the leaders. On the last quarter or so of the course I came around a 90 degree turn at a fence a little to close and caught my right shifter on the pole. As you can imagine my bike stopped and I kept going on pavement/gravel, not good. So I jumped up and got out of the way of other racers to inspect my bike. It looked like my right shifter was just bent in so I took what little strength I had left in my shoulder I just fell on and bent it back into place, mounted my bike and took off to continue racing. Then I noticed my bike veering to the right. When I looked down I realized my handlebars had also been tweaked about 45 degrees to the left. There was no way I could ride the course with my bike like that and I didn’t have the strength to straighten it out. So I walked off the course and to the parking lot where I commiserated with another rider who crashed and had a mechanical failure. After that I went back to the start to cheer on the rest of my teammates on their last lap. Some random guy sees me standing there, bloody and dirty holding my bike and asks why I'm not out racing. I explained my bike issue to him thinking I may get a little sympathy. No doing, he wanted me back out on the course. He took my bike and muscled it back into shape, picked it up over the fence and told me to get back out there and finish my race. So I did. I got one more strong lap in, felt good and sprinted the finish. I came in last but I didn't DNF and that makes me very proud. After the race I found my cyclocross-saviour and gave him a hearty thanks right before I made my way to the EMT tent to have my wounds scrubbed. OUCH!

All and all and good race.

Erin

[telegirl]

That's great, Erin! Good job and thank goodness for good samaritans! Getting your hand caught sounds a bit freaky, but it was great you didn't have to DNF-