Howell Mountain 2008

I was very excited to return to Howell Mountain Challenge- this is one of my favorite races!  We started with a group of 15 or so, including teammate Heather and Breakaway Bikes friend Sarah Campbell in my age category. 
 
I opted to jump quick off the start, and maintained 1st position for 45 minutes or so, with Sarah and another woman right on my heels.  I was definitely working really hard.  The 3rd woman dropped back out of earshot, and I was trying to shake Sarah but just couldn’t drop her.  Then, Sarah overtook me on the long climb near the end of the 1st lap.  Strong.   After this climb you transition into the big rollers; ascending the 1st big roller I stood up to mash up the hill and was stopped dead in my tracks by a gnarly crunch, pedals stopped.  My rear derailleur was mangled and twisted into my rear spokes.  I impulsively released a few of my favorite expletives, then shouldered the bike and began the walk of bike-mechanical shame.  The abrupt end to my race was very disappointing because I felt inspired, happy, and excited about seeing the race play out; we had a good
competitive race going. 

I saw Chris Brown after the race. The same derailleur bust happened to him at this race the year before, in the same spot on the course!  And, I didn’t hang out long enough to see Sarah P. come in, but she raced PRO!  AWESOME!  Can’t wait to see how her first pro race went, and I am thrilled to hear she will be competing at SS Worlds in a couple of weeks!  August 24th in Napa!
 
I returned to Santa Rosa and took my bike immediately to NorCal.  John fixed it, Jeff sold me a new derailleur, and they called me an hour later: ready for pick-up!  The fix happened so quickly that I might just forget the derailleur incident ever happened!  Thanks NorCal :)
 
-Shannon

2008

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2005

2004