9.08.2008

meltdown

yeah, i know it's been awhile. i seem to have been busy with nothing and everything (except anything bike related).
nothing's really happened really except for maybe the house is a little cleaner, we're a couple steps closer to getting our railings and we have a new couch and futon.
it feels good to walk in the front door and not be disgusted.
saturday there was no time to ride my bike- it was zoe's birthday. i had a lot of things to do not to mention getting two kids ready takes time. i headed over to my sis' and helped setup etc. the party was fun. the kids had a blast. i of course ate way too much. zoe came home with some great things.
saturday night had amelia and bender over for the palos race.
we watched some lame tv for a bit. when i couldn't keep my eyes open anymore i headed to bed.
sunday came quick. we had some breakfast and rushed to the course. i must've had wors on the brain as i thought the sports started at 11:30- it was actually 10:30. so we missed the start and the chance to cheer on a few friends.
i'll be honest, with my lack of riding and the course toughness i wasn't expecting much. i just wanted to finish without being miserable and not be last. i accomplished that yesterday but not today. i'm exhausted and dehydrated! i feel like crap.
i started with amelia.


i had no idea who was ahead of us. well, i knew holly was up there, but unsure if there were any other gals. amelia starts at my pace and i'm not sure if i can't hold the pace or she just gets faster and faster as the race goes on. either way she rocked it. i spent the majority of the race alone. i haven't raced alone in a long time. i had the sound of my rear rotor to keep me company the whole 3 laps. the centerlock adaptor came undone and my rotor was just floating in the back, i could tell the front was getting ready too. at first it was super annoying and i was pissed. i stopped to hand tighten it a couple times, but knew that was futile. it's very rare i have anything go wrong with my bike, so i'm not going to dwell on it. i'm guessing it was mechanic's error (me) and not the adaptors. eventually if it wasn't rattling it freaked me out. i'd expect to see the rotor behind me on the ground (i know impossible) and have no brake.
i was relieved to be done. john came to finish just as i was. it would've been nice to ride in together, but 6th place was at the top of the hill. still tho' it was close enough. he had a great race and finished 5th! i was proud and happy for him.


i'm not sure what weather gods cambr has in their pocket but it could not have been a nicer day. it was beautful. the 3 inches of rain we got on Thursday had the course in perfect condition. i haven't railed turf 1 or 3 ravines like that in ages. it was awesome.


i finished pretty much how i expected. i wished i were faster, but who doesn't. i'm not bummed about it as i haven't been riding. but i could tell that i haven't been riding, i didn't have any speed at all. hopefully i can get some good rides in for the last two WORS races and definitely for beechwood as that's a tough one!
but back to this past weekend, most of us headed back to my house afterwards for some portillos. good food, friends and conversation.
it was nice to see all the people i call friends have a good day. blue mound is coming up, but i don't think it's in my cards. maybe kettle this saturday with amelia if i find a sitter. john'll be near canada.

congrats to bender. he had an awesome race! the trophy he won was the best race prize ever!

thanks to rusty for the pics. i never get to scroll through his pics and find a pic of myself, so that was cool.

6 comments:

rusty wrycza said...

I was wondering what that sound was... what a great venue. I've never raced Palos before - but have had my a** handed to me several times from the locals. I can still get LOST there too. I added a couple more starting line pics; enjoy!

Julie said...

way to go, Rachael! I thought it would have been cute if you and John had come through the finish together- it was close. And happy bday to Zoe!

amelia said...

great job rachael! your mad skills and fitness despite only riding like once a week continues to amaze me.

thanks again for everything!
(oh and say thanks to zoey for sharing her birthday cake with us)

ps - lap times from the results say i do get faster. but then i get much slower after i spend a lap chasing someone and going too hard...

Anonymous said...

Great racing Rachael. It sure was a blast to be out there. If you do kettle on Sat. let me know cause we will definitely be there and I would love to ride with you and Amelia.

Christine said...

Nice pics of you gals on line. Nice race Rachael!

http://cambr.org/SMF/index.php?action=irace

ZMoney said...

Nice job!