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Bay Area Super Prestige #4: Golden Gate Park

 

I was hoping to hang onto my 5th place overall in the series, but alas, random mechanical failure can happen at any race!! I carpooled down to San Francisco with Sarah P. and the gang in their sweet Euro-van, and was excited that it was a sunny beautiful day in the city.  We got there with tons of time to warm up slowly and pre-ride the super fun course before the race.  Lots of loose sandy soil, tight turns, and fun run-ups!  I got to the start line, nervous and a little anxious, when I reached down to move my bike over and MY REAR TIRE WAS COMPLETELY FLAT!  Luckily I was in the last wave of riders, so I ran my bike over to Chris Brown and Gabe and they changed my tube in a jiffy (I pretty much thought I was out of the race at this point).  But with support from friends I managed to get to the start line just in time.  I missed my call up to the front line, but I was happy to at least be there. The whistle blew and I was in too easy a gear, but still managed to pass a bunch of ladies in the initial sprint.  Once we turned right onto dirt, there was a pile-up that I narrowly missed, then a fun downhill, a run-up and I actually managed to remount and ride around one of my competitors!  Sweet.  Then, I got onto a stretch of pavement and found myself catching up the the series leader in my category when something just didn't feel right. My back tire was FLAT again, and I was done.  I got off my bike and decided to run the remaining 2/3 of the course to the pit and see if they had a spare mountain bike tube or wheel.  But no such luck!  I then ran to the SRAM tent on the course and they tried to put me on a 51 cm Orbea, but I am too small for that!  So, I decided after pretty much all of my options were closed, to kick back and drink a Tecate that Alexis M. had there for me to ease the pain.  I was bummed that I couldn't finish the race, but random stuff happens and you can't let it get you down.  Next week is double points and who knows, maybe I can make up some lost points? Oh- and when Chris was loading my bike into the van at the end of the day, he found the hugest industrial-size staple in my tire. That would do it.  Yep, so next week, I'm bringing a spare BIKE to put in the pit, cause you just never know:) 

 

Thanks for reading,

Heather

-Sarah P.