Race Report 1/22/10 - Debacle!!

I knew I had had enough of Hillindon, so had plans to go to the other side of London to Redbridge to race a similar series at Hog Hill. Another purpose built cycle center, similar to Hillingdon in just about every way except for a pretty significant incline coming up to the line. All in all the course was 2 km, and I would say it reminded me alot of racing at Fire Hill in Edmond. I am sure you are wondering 'what about the debacles?' don't worry they come fast and furious.

Kristen decided to come with me, a decision I am sure she regrets now, so we left about 10:30 for a 12:30 race. There was about a 100% chance that I got lost if I tried to ride there, so we took the tube, to where I thought was next door to the circuit. First problem occurred when there was a signal failure and we got stuck between stations for about 30 minutes, only to have to exit before our stop and move on by foot. I had about 15 minutes to make it to the start at this point, and in my mind had already given up hope. Good thing, because what I thought was going to be a couple of blocks from the station to the circuit turned into more than a miles walk. Kristen must have been hating life at this point, but I was relieved as I was able to ride the 2/3 race at 1:45. A good warm up and I was ready to go, but my bike obviously wasn't. On the second lap I started thinking to myself, man this is hard! Half a lap latter, I knew why. Almost sliding out in a corner knew that I had a rear wheel going down. Of course, couldn't be any further away from the pit, so I had a good 5 minute jog back to the pit. Changed the rear and was ready to go only to find out that the front wheel was flat too. Another wheel and another lap and I was finally back in.

Things didn't seem too fast, and I was hoping the worst was over at this point. The first time we hit the hill after the wheel change I realized the worst was yet to come. I couldn't seem to find a gear until I got all the way to the largest cog in the back, and that wasn't enough to keep to with the group. Turned out that while the organizers were willing to provide wheels for flats, they weren't willing to provide 10 speed cassettes. In case you didn't know, 10 speed mech and 9 speed cassette not a good combination. And so it went from there on. Chase, chain skips all over the place, get dropped, chase......... I really had no idea what was going on in the rest of the race, or how hard or easy it was for everyone else. Crazy hard for me, and pretty sure I finished dead last. Unless one of the other 10 or so punctures didn't get back into the race. Once the race was over there was nothing I wanted to do more than go home. But of course, had to walk the long way back to the tube, pushing a bike with two flat tires the whole way.

My Saturday races usually take 3 hours door to door, we were gone today for almost 7. Complete debacle. I hope Kristen got all the pictures she wanted to today, because I don't think she will be returning any time soon. Will see when I go again. I am sure things will be good tomorrow but for now pretty depressed about the whole situation. First things first, gotta go buy some tubes now.

Hands down hardest part of the race. I and cycling shoes not made for running
First...rear wheel. Notice how muddy shoe covers are? Ground was super muddy, and wet, feet were soaked for the rest of the race.

And then the front!