July 3rd was the Leesville Gap road race. This is 63 miles of the worst roads you can imagine. Potholes, poor attempts at pothole repair with blobs of black top everywhere, dirt and gravel roads, deep gravel, and a gnarly 3-mile climb thrown in for fun. Of course there were other hills and such goodies, but that was the worst of it.
It was pretty evident in the first 10 minutes of the race that the visions I'd had of dominating the race with my teammate, Asa, and helping her cross the finish line in first were pretty much out the window. There were 13 of us cat 4 women at the line and 1 master's woman who got to start with us. I overheard her talking to the race official and she told him she was technically a pro. Well, the race started and in the neutral section she takes off ahead of everyone. I just let her go because 1) she's not in our category and 2) this was still the neutral section...we weren't supposed to be racing yet. Well, it didn't take long before a few girls took off after her. I didn't jump, because of reasons 1 and 2 above. Asa and I both mentioned that to those who were passing, but they still went. Well, in all that confusion they turned the corner and I got dropped. Crap!!! We turned right into the wind and they are tearing off down the road, finally catching the pro. Now I have to spend a few minutes burning myself up just trying to catch the group. I'm mentally kicking myself as I do this. I finally catch the group, feeling sorry for my teammate Stephanie who got dropped, and did my best to hang in there. They were going at a killer pace and we're riding way harder than we should be for the first part of this race, especially knowing what's ahead...the potholes and the long climb. I keep thinking "what are they doing?" We rode in a double paceline and I didn't really feel like I was getting much rest. Once the "pro" girl sees that we are about to catch the master's men age 55+ (who left 5 minutes before we did) they stop the paceline and tear off after them. Oh goody! Let's ride even faster! I never thought I would be so glad to see the highway crossing and start the fun potholes just so I didn't have to stay in this insane paceline.
We cross the highway and all chaos erupts and the riders split up all over the road. We had caught the men and a few of our women were able to sneak through them, but after they realized they were being passed by women they didn't allow that anymore. It was every woman for herself at this point. You couldn't ride behind anyone because all you could do was just try to stay up on the bike. I stayed with the group for as long as I could, but they were still keeping an insane pace and after killing myself trying to catch them in the beginning I didn't have it in me to continue so fast. I backed off a little and let the leaders go, including Asa. At this point I had switched from winning mode to survival mode. All I wanted to do was finish.
After a while I ended up riding with a few girls, one from UCLA and the other from UC Davis. We took turns pulling when the road allowed and then in the deep gravel section they couldn't stay up on their bikes and decided to walk. I rode through it like a champ, thanks to my mountain biking skills. Of course, I let them catch me again because I still wanted someone to work with.
A few miles later a girl who had flatted earlier goes screaming past us trying to catch the leaders. The UCLA girl and I jump onto her wheel, but after a few minutes I decide it's too fast for me and back off. Just as I am wondering how Stephanie is doing she pops up out of nowhere and catches us. I couldn't believe it. Go Stephanie! She informs me that I'd lost a water bottle. I bought a 2-bottle cage for the back of my seat so I could carry 4 water bottles, but those bumpy roads were too much for it. Dang! I needed that! It was one of those expensive insulated ones too! We finally reach the big 3 mile climb and the UC Davis girl, Stephanie, and I start the long grind up the hill. Fortunately, hills are my strength so I was able to pull away, pass a master's guy, and reach the top way ahead.
I start down the bumpy decent and, sure enough, out pops the other water bottle from behind my seat. Dang! I stop and go back for it. I can't afford to lose so many expensive water bottles and I'm going to dehydrate before the feed zone if I'm not careful. I stuff that water bottle in my rear pocket with my tubes and stuff and ride on. However, now I'm riding slower because I'm afraid to lose the water bottle out of my pocket. I finally reach the bottom, settle in, and ride several lonely miles by myself. Finally, out of the blue comes the UC Davis girl who says "do you know how hard I've been riding to try and catch you?" We end up working together which was nice. Mile after mile we ride, I continue drinking my Cytomax, eating my Honey Stingers, and hoping for the feed zone. The race director said it was at mile 35. No. It was at mile 42, thank you very much. The race director also said the race was about 60 miles. No. It was 63+ miles, thank you very much again. They need to get those details down better because people count on it when they are racing.
Anyway, mile 36 comes along and boink!, there goes a spoke on my rear wheel. Perfect! Stephanie pulls up along with the guy I had passed before and he doesn't offer much help. None of us have a spoke wrench and it doesn't want to come out. Fortunately, the SAG vehicle comes by and stops. A guy who had flatted out twice and was along for the ride helped me wrap the spoke around another spoke and true the wheel a little so it wasn't so wobbly. I had to have the brake released because the wheel was so off balance. Great, I still had a big descent ahead of me. The guy driving the vehicle had some extra water and gave us each a bottle. Thank you! We were all out.
I was grateful to Stephanie and the UC Davis girl for waiting for me and we rode the next climb together. At this point, with my wheel the way it was, I was just trying to finish the race safely. We got to the top of the climb and I said my good-byes because I wouldn't be able to fly down the hill like I wanted. I had to try to take it as slow as possible. Not an easy task when your rear brake isn't working. I had visions of my whole wheel falling apart. It freaked me out and I was glad to make it to the bottom in one piece.
At mile 42 I happily switched out my water bottles and had two fresh ones. Thanks to Scarlett and Kyle for being there for us!!! Scarlett offered to follow me the rest of the race because of my wheel and I gratefully took her up on her offer. I cruised along until there were about 13 miles left. I could see the UC Davis girl in the distance and was slowly catching her. I thought it would be nice to work together again to the finish, but when I almost got there she turns around and sees me and takes off. Huh! Well, I'll show her!!! I kicked it into TT mode (that's time trial mode) and rode as hard as I could the final 13 miles. I passed her and then some. It wasn't so hard with the tailwind behind me, but as soon as I made the last left turn into the wind it got harder. It was seriously the longest 4 miles ever. I was super glad to finish and not to have finished last! I took 10th out of 13. Not quite the race I had planned, but they never really are.
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