Ouch! I went up to Loveland yesterday to meet Megan at Loveland High School. I have my tri next Saturday and I’ve heard the bike course is fairly tough, so I wanted to give it a try before race day. I checked my roadie over in the parking lot and noticed that I have a small tear in my rear tire. I made the comment to Meg that, “I really should get a new tire.” Talk about an omen? Probably. We also met two very nice women who were riding the course as well. The oldest of the two told us that her husband was driving a car behind them, so if we had any problems, just look for the black car. At the time I thought it was very random but very sweet.
At any rate, we got about 15 miles into the 30 mile ride–aka smack in the middle of nowhere and just as we were entering the climbing zone–and I got a flat. Damn. Not a crisis, I can change a tire. I sat down on the road and started to patch my tube up (yes, I somehow forgot a spare!) but could not find the leak! I was verging on hopping the barbed wire fence to stick my tube in the river when lo and behold, here comes the black car! The women and the car ended up stopping and waiting with us until I had the tire fixed. Not only did I find the first leak, but there was also a huge second tear. The older woman was so sweet and was spraying sunscreen on me and even feeding me bits of Power Bar while I worked. I love running into generous people 🙂
Anyway, I finally got my tire changed and we started the real climb of the course. It wasn’t anything too difficult but there is definitely one substantial climb around mile 19. We make the climb and I am bombing down the hill, freaking out when I started to creep up to 40 mph. After a few miles of downhill, however, I realize that a lot of people are passing me. Just as we creeped into south Fort Collins I realized that yet again, my tube had blown….and taken a large part of my tire with me. I yelled to Meg to stop but she didn’t see me, so I just hopped off and started walking. I knew she would realize I was gone at some point! Sure enough, she did and in the end, I layed down on the side of the road while she road the last 10 miles back to the parking lot to get the car so she could come get me. Unfortunately, that process took about an hour, and I completely fell asleep on the side of the road! For all of you that know Taft Rd. in Fort Collins, you’ll know that it isn’t a rural road–and I was this random girl, basking in the sun and totally sleeping! I probably looked homeless! In the end, the ride definitely did not go as well as I hoped…but at least I checked out the course and know what to expect!
(Oh, and for the record, Team Zebra is Meg and my new team. We both accidentally wore a white tank, black cycling shorts, and white shoes yesterday….kind of like zebras. We are now recruiting if you want to be a part of our cycling club!)
Wow, what a busy week ahead! Not only is today Father’s Day, but Wednesday is my Mom’s birthday, and Saturday is Angel’s birthday. As if that weren’t enough, the triathlon is Saturday, and a friend from Steamboat is coming down with her (new!) fiance to celebrate his birthday. We are thinking of doing a combo Angel bday/Damon bday/engagement celebration. Even thinking about all of that makes me tired–and truly broke! 😉
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