Long Sunday. Guys left for breakfast at 5:45 am. I rose at 6:30, showered and went to the race with the guys as their sherpa. Perfect timing with registration, pinned numbers on jerseys and it started sleeting. It continued until right before the roll out to the start. Three big races started at 9 a.m. Fifty to seventy miles of racing; guys all hanging out in their cars in their street clothes until the absolute last minute to step outside into Belgian weather. The parking lot was filled with cackles of laughter. I stood in the porta potty line so my guys would stay warm and dry. ‘Tis the season for unpredictable weather. Brad and Keith’s race rolled to the start and I followed. Scatter-brained, I ran back and forth from the car with the essentials one at a time. Water, vest, … Duh! Needed to have the camera, water, gels, clothing, etc. in a bag.I drove back to the hotel for towels for my guys to wipe down after the race. I think I have too much going on as I forgot to pack some essentials for an overnight trip. I will have to update one of my vacation packing lists to make it a bike racing list. I switched bags so you know, stuff everywhere. Forgot pump, towels, non-cycling munchies, clear lens, tea bags, enough water, warm clothes, car phone charger, lipstick, etc. It started to sleet again while the guys raced. Check out Keith’s blog later when he has a chance to post. http://hmb_cycling.blogs.com/
My race started at 1 pm. Huge field of 60+ with the collegiate A riders. Still freakin’ cold and sleeting a bit. Okay, maybe it switched to a sprinkle. I joked about warming up being over-rated. So we neutral roll to the start but you know how that goes. We make it safely to the start line and we go. Someone jumped right away and I went with her. Whoa! “What the hell am I thinking?!” No more joking about warming up being over-rated. I eventually survived (first I raced Jeff Cup in 2002 I broke my collarbone as we race with the 50/60+ men and I got into a bumping match with a guy over a woman’s wheel. Tried to come back in 2003 and the race got snowed out. Third time is a charm). My teammate Lorena took the field sprint with some distance between her and the pack. Woo Hoo! I did everything I could from the back. I sent good vibes to my mates covering the front while I watched from behind.
A.M. radio entertained us for the first half of the drive home with basketball and NASCAR. I talked about logistics of getting my car to the shop tomorrow for regular check up. Brad mentioned I need new tires after 37,000 miles. Brad bragged about being at 40,000 with his original tires. Keith is like; you guys can’t mess around with tires. He owns a body shop and said most accident happens because of worn tires, especially in the rain.
Our van had a leaking tire this past year and Brad noticed his car started to act up. We stop, checked the air and bought French fries. Another 45 minutes the steering wheel started to shake. Long story – story, we did a NASCAR pit stop and thought for sure that we were staying in Winchester, VA and getting drunk on 40s. We pulled into a local gas station with a garage but no mechanic at 6 pm on a Sunday. We made some calls and no luck. Brad and Keith decided to pull off the front tires with the hope that would fix the problem. Luckily, the station had one of those thing-a-ma-jigs that jacks the car up but the easy way (hydraulic car jack, I know!) Did the right tire and the guys drove around while I sat with all the bags and bike wheels in the station parking lot reading and taking in the highway fumes. No good. Crap! So off with the left. Bingo! We examined the tire and saw a dip in the middle – broken cord. Thirty minutes later and we laughed about getting off at the right exit as there was a Hampton Inn, strip malls on either end of the intersection and 40s at the mini-market next door. Stuff to do, beers to get hammered on. Keith busted on Brad as he bragged about all the miles on his tires.
Moral of the story, check your treads. (And check your air once a month. I too, had an issue with a leaking tire a few months ago.)
8:45, almost home as I killed time reading while I could and switched to blogging, maximizing my time stuck in the car for a few more hours. Wish I would have remembered to grab my camera cables to download pictures, too.
