It�s Snelling, not Snealing!

Three A.M. and the alarm goes off. �Didn�t I just fall asleep�, I think to myself. I get out of bed, eat, pack my food and clothes for the day; and am on my way to Mariko�s house by 3:30 AM to pick up her jersey that she is willing to lend Tanya (T) Davis. I show up in San Rafael to the Davis� a little early then they expected, thirty minutes early, which was actually perfect, because I was able to enjoy some good �ol oatmeal and sugar made by Ty, Tanya�s husband. After the oatmeal was somewhat devoured, we brought what was left with us, and we loaded up the car with our crap, bikes, and sleepy Marley. Marley is Tanya and Ty�s 10 month old cute li�l baby. I say cute now, but just you wait. ;)

And we�re off. Flying at mock speeds to get to Modesto in two hours, yes I said in two hours. We realize that it�s about seven AM now, and we still have 50 miles to travel, so we pull over to get gas. Which by the way did not have a �bathroom for the public�, cashiers words. So I ask where something might be open that has a bathroom for the public. She tells me, but Ty finds out that there is a Starbucks a mile up the road. Starbucks it is. At this point we really did not need any coffee due to how delirious we all were�laughing uncontrollably in Starbucks, like we had just been gassed with laughing gas. What does Ty do, he buys a venti, the largest size coffee there, I get a small, and nothing for T.

We start to see fellow cyclists traveling to Snelling, so we follow, since I�m not doing that great of a job as copilot. Ty also made some great friends while passing all the slow cyclists in vehicles ;) He said he needed to get his racing fix in too. But I have to give it to him, we got there safe, and with time to register, get changed, warm-up, and to visit the port-o-jon multiple times. Sorry, nervous nellies.

Now it�s time to line up. Race report is starting soon I promise. T and I were in the second Cat 4 women�s race, the 550 to 600 number series. Yet there were only about 16 to 20 women in this race, compared to the 50 women in the first race. While T and I were waiting to go, we both noticed this pom pom chick shaking uncontrollably from being cold. It was cold, but not that cold! I don�t know if it was that or the fact that she was wearing a pom pom, but I got a bad vibe from her. Kinda like a weak or unsafe rider. (Remember what I said here �cause I�ll come back to it before the race is over).

Instructions are given, three miles of neutral, our race is not affected by the first one, if we catch them we can not work with them, blah blah blah, and the gun is shot. With all that waiting to start the first lap or so I was still pretty numb. Lucky for me we had to do three laps of 11.7 miles. By the second lab I started to warm up as did the B-52 bombers, THE BEES. Oh man, were those big. Now it should not have been a surprise to anyone cause on the Snelling Road Race website it states something along the lines of, �If the weather is nice (which it was), and you are allergic to bees (which I am) then you might want to reconsider (which I didn�t). Sweet, one flew right between my helmet and my sun glasses. I had to take off my sunglasses and shoo the thing. Then I almost get one down my jersey. If I get stung, I�m done. As if my adrenaline was not already up there, it was then.

Okay now to talk about the race. There seemed to be up hills with no sweet down hills, major head wind, shitty roads, and a bunch of soft peddlers. No one wanted to take out the lead! I can say that T and I were in the top 5 pack the whole time, so we weren�t necessarily being wheel suckers like everyone else. So, on the back stretch of the second lap I got fed up and ramped it up a bit. True there was cross wind, and true this was the shittiest road on the course, but my legs felt good, I was in a zone. After the turn I dropped back and sucked wheel since the intense head wind was about to come up. Lap 2.5 comes and goes, and I will now fast forward to the last 5-7 miles.

All of a sudden I take a look around me and I have moved back too far in the pack. I am now behind THAT pom pom chick. I forgot she was in the race since she was never in front of me till now. And I would say that was because I let up too much, not that she could ride stronger than me. (Ok, I know I am being cocky.) The last 5-7 miles happen to be on that shittiest road of the race, and what happens next. Oh nothing, other than THAT chick rode right into the hole in the road, which we have called out every other lap. She goes down, she takes another one with her, before I have no other choice but to run her over. I was aimed for right up her middle but I turned my wheel and rode over her leg. I fell off slash jumped off, I don�t know, but what I do know is I yelled "Tanya keep riding, don�t stop!� Picked up my bike, pedaled a few strokes...sweet nothing was rubbing and I took off. I knew I could catch up �cause they were riding into the head wind and like I said before, are a bunch of soft peddlers. I GOT EM�.

This other chick asks me �what happened, are you all right?� I say pretty rudely, �I don�t know and I don�t care, we are racing!� Its the last three miles or so, who cares. I really did not even look back at the crash after I took off, I don�t know if she is okay, or how many other people were down. All I know is there�s now 1 KM to go and the girls are ramping it up with T and I up front, five wide. I know that once the turn hits there is a sign 100 meters up the way that will then say 200, for 200 meters to go. And I know I can�t sprint for 300 meters so I wait just a little bit after some girls hit it. Some went too early, so I pass, some where in the wrong gear, so I pass, and I GET FOURTH IN A SPRINT. WWOOOAAAHHHHH I am so excited. I was not going to let the crash take away points from me. All I said over and over in my head during that sprint was POINTS, POINTS, POINTS. And I got �em.

No damage to my bike and just a little scratch on my right ankle bone.

So since I got fourth, there is supposed to be some award for me. T and I went to check out the standings, I, Mandra Farnham got fourth. WTF Mandra, I told them it was CHandra not Mandra and for them to correct it. hahhahaha we had a good laugh. They only posted the top 6, so T thinks she got 7th or 8th, still in the top ten. We kicked BUTT at Snelling, if I do say so myself. There is so much more about the car ride home and how li�l Marley wanted out of that car seat, but I�ll spare ya. Thanks for reading my first Road Race Report....

Mandra over and out.....

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