The Ski to Sea race was yesterday, and my leg went off without any (major) hitches. This year we had two teams, number 260 and 295. I was the Road Biker for Team 260, and Michelle was going to be one of the Canoeists, but that leg was canceled. Read all about it here.
Tommy (Road Biker for Tea 295) and I arrived at the DOT Shed (runner - road bike exchange area) at around 8 in the morning to await the hand-off from our respective runners. It was sunny and hot all morning, and we took refuge in the shade. Tommy's team arrived first, and about 15 minutes later my number got called. I took my bike and my bag and made my way to the starting gate. That's when things got interesting.
Travis, my team's runner, passed the timing chip to me; so far no problem. What I should have done was taken 15 seconds and strapped it to my bike before I took off. Instead, I put my foot in the toe cage and pushed off. Then as I tried to sit back into the saddle, I misjudged it's height and the front of the seat grabbed my bike shorts and yarded them down. Yep, I mooned the entire road bike staging area. There was an audible "oooh..." as the crowd looked away in horror. I hastily pulled my pants up, and I was off. But I wasn't out of the woods yet.
I still had the dumb timing chip in my hand, and it was a real struggle trying to attach it to my wrist one-handed as I road down the mountain. It was velcro, so of course it got stuck to itself. When I shook it to get it unstuck, it flew out of my hands. I think I hollered an obscenity and I definitely slammed on the brakes, leaving some nice skid marks on the road. I laid down my bike, ran back up the hill, and luckily found the timing chip right away. When I laid down my bike I must have knocked the chain off, but again, luckily it only took me a few seconds to put it back on. Overall I think I only lost about 5 positions - finally I had everything organized, and I could focus on racing.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, except when I almost collided with a guy handing out water. Otherwise I passed more people than passed me, and I felt good going up the hills. My overall time was 1 hour 52 minutes, which was under my goal of 2 hours, so I was happy about that. I averaged about 20 mph, and my fastest speed was 41.8 mph. There was a section where I was cruising at around 40 mph for several minutes, and I was able to brake by sitting up out of my tuck position, which was nice. The overall race results aren't working quite yet, but you can see all the details here. If they're not working yet, check back soon.
I don't have any pictures to post at the moment, but suffice it to say that a spandex bike jersey makes for mean tan lines. Yowza.
Tommy (Road Biker for Tea 295) and I arrived at the DOT Shed (runner - road bike exchange area) at around 8 in the morning to await the hand-off from our respective runners. It was sunny and hot all morning, and we took refuge in the shade. Tommy's team arrived first, and about 15 minutes later my number got called. I took my bike and my bag and made my way to the starting gate. That's when things got interesting.
Travis, my team's runner, passed the timing chip to me; so far no problem. What I should have done was taken 15 seconds and strapped it to my bike before I took off. Instead, I put my foot in the toe cage and pushed off. Then as I tried to sit back into the saddle, I misjudged it's height and the front of the seat grabbed my bike shorts and yarded them down. Yep, I mooned the entire road bike staging area. There was an audible "oooh..." as the crowd looked away in horror. I hastily pulled my pants up, and I was off. But I wasn't out of the woods yet.
I still had the dumb timing chip in my hand, and it was a real struggle trying to attach it to my wrist one-handed as I road down the mountain. It was velcro, so of course it got stuck to itself. When I shook it to get it unstuck, it flew out of my hands. I think I hollered an obscenity and I definitely slammed on the brakes, leaving some nice skid marks on the road. I laid down my bike, ran back up the hill, and luckily found the timing chip right away. When I laid down my bike I must have knocked the chain off, but again, luckily it only took me a few seconds to put it back on. Overall I think I only lost about 5 positions - finally I had everything organized, and I could focus on racing.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, except when I almost collided with a guy handing out water. Otherwise I passed more people than passed me, and I felt good going up the hills. My overall time was 1 hour 52 minutes, which was under my goal of 2 hours, so I was happy about that. I averaged about 20 mph, and my fastest speed was 41.8 mph. There was a section where I was cruising at around 40 mph for several minutes, and I was able to brake by sitting up out of my tuck position, which was nice. The overall race results aren't working quite yet, but you can see all the details here. If they're not working yet, check back soon.
I don't have any pictures to post at the moment, but suffice it to say that a spandex bike jersey makes for mean tan lines. Yowza.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment