Speedwheel
Last night we took off for Drumright, Oklahoma. Actually it was mid afternoon because my race started at 5:30 and it was an hour and a half drive. We stopped at Sonic in Drumright so Charles could eat. The truck wouldn't start back up. Wonderful! I have to race in one hour and the truck is broke. So we threw back-packs on and grabbed our bikes and tried to find a garage in town to come take a look. After getting the wrong directions we finally found a place. But the guy was closing shop in twenty minutes as was not overly excited about driving to Sonic to look at our truck. He said "just bang on the starter a little and then give her a try". Ok, so we rode back to the truck. By the way, Drumright is a super hilly little town and I was riding in Teva sandles. They were so slippery on my Dura Ace pedals. It was pretty difficult to get up some of those hills without sliding off my pedals. Plus I had on jean shots and was sweating my butt off. Anyway, we got to the truck and what do ya know, it started right up! Ok, we threw everything back in the truck and took off for the race.
Once I finally got signed up, which was a 15 minute ordeal, I was so sweaty from the earlier bike trek around downtown, I could barely get my skinsuit on. It is tight anyway, but when I'm all sticky it was a workout in and of itself to wiggle into that thing. So I get my number pinned and take off to ride the course a bit. I get in three laps and then they call us to the line. Not much of a warm-up but nothing I could do at that point. There were only 5 women and 10 or so juniors so we all started together. The course was really fast and technical with no real corners but just sweeping turns. It was on really smooth wide blacktop too, which was great. So we took off and it was a hole shot to the first corner and there were two juniors in front of me that of course hit the brakes. But out of the corner we hit it and seperated the bunch pretty fast. There were 4 juniors and me and Angie. One of the chics crashed and broke her collarbone, but still managed to finish. Angie and I basically alternated pulls and primes which I thought was more than a fair tradeoff. The juniors fizzled out so we were off by ourselves. They rang the bell for the bell lap after Angie and I had gone through start/finish so we didn't know it was bell lap. We were actually talking as we went the the finish. I got lucky and was a little in front of her and managed to win. Neither of us realized that was the finish. Anyway, it was dumb on our part but the officials never gave us the bell and the lapcard said 1 to go. Whatever. I still won, so that was good. I won some cash and a gift certificate for dinner in Drumright.
I also did the mens 4/5 race right after the womens. I went pretty hard in the womens race so I was a little tired but thought I was at least warmed up well. They threw in a $40 prime for the first lap which sucked, so it was super fast and squirrly from the start. It was like pedal pedal pedal --brake brake brake---pedal pedal pedal. Very annoying and very tireing to say the least. So I got gapped a few times and closed them and then I got dropped from the main group of 8 or so. I hopped in with the next group which was all strung out and then everyone hit the brakes and I got gapped again. I couldn't close it that time as we were getting lapped by two guys who were off the front anyway. So, we got pulled. It was a good workout anyway.
After the races we went to redeem my gift certificate and this local steakhouse. It was so busy with all the Freewheelers that it took forever. The salad bar that came with our dinner didn't even have any dressing. They were completely out or just too busy to refill them. The food sucked pretty bad, but it was free so it was hard to complain too much.
We missed our exit on the way home and had to go the long way instead but oh well, we made anyway. Really bad storms came through about an hour after we got home so luckily we made it just in time. On the news they were reporting 90 mph winds. That is crazy!
We may be going to Texas this weekend for some races but the OK state TT is this Sunday so we may stick around OKC instead. I guess it will be a last minute type of decision.
Once I finally got signed up, which was a 15 minute ordeal, I was so sweaty from the earlier bike trek around downtown, I could barely get my skinsuit on. It is tight anyway, but when I'm all sticky it was a workout in and of itself to wiggle into that thing. So I get my number pinned and take off to ride the course a bit. I get in three laps and then they call us to the line. Not much of a warm-up but nothing I could do at that point. There were only 5 women and 10 or so juniors so we all started together. The course was really fast and technical with no real corners but just sweeping turns. It was on really smooth wide blacktop too, which was great. So we took off and it was a hole shot to the first corner and there were two juniors in front of me that of course hit the brakes. But out of the corner we hit it and seperated the bunch pretty fast. There were 4 juniors and me and Angie. One of the chics crashed and broke her collarbone, but still managed to finish. Angie and I basically alternated pulls and primes which I thought was more than a fair tradeoff. The juniors fizzled out so we were off by ourselves. They rang the bell for the bell lap after Angie and I had gone through start/finish so we didn't know it was bell lap. We were actually talking as we went the the finish. I got lucky and was a little in front of her and managed to win. Neither of us realized that was the finish. Anyway, it was dumb on our part but the officials never gave us the bell and the lapcard said 1 to go. Whatever. I still won, so that was good. I won some cash and a gift certificate for dinner in Drumright.
I also did the mens 4/5 race right after the womens. I went pretty hard in the womens race so I was a little tired but thought I was at least warmed up well. They threw in a $40 prime for the first lap which sucked, so it was super fast and squirrly from the start. It was like pedal pedal pedal --brake brake brake---pedal pedal pedal. Very annoying and very tireing to say the least. So I got gapped a few times and closed them and then I got dropped from the main group of 8 or so. I hopped in with the next group which was all strung out and then everyone hit the brakes and I got gapped again. I couldn't close it that time as we were getting lapped by two guys who were off the front anyway. So, we got pulled. It was a good workout anyway.
After the races we went to redeem my gift certificate and this local steakhouse. It was so busy with all the Freewheelers that it took forever. The salad bar that came with our dinner didn't even have any dressing. They were completely out or just too busy to refill them. The food sucked pretty bad, but it was free so it was hard to complain too much.
We missed our exit on the way home and had to go the long way instead but oh well, we made anyway. Really bad storms came through about an hour after we got home so luckily we made it just in time. On the news they were reporting 90 mph winds. That is crazy!
We may be going to Texas this weekend for some races but the OK state TT is this Sunday so we may stick around OKC instead. I guess it will be a last minute type of decision.
posted by Miranda Quigley at 10:44 AM
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