Racing at Sequim

Yesterday I raced at Sequim with one of my teammates. It was a large field, seemed like about 40 riders which is huge compared to the 9 riders we had just a few years ago. It was nice to sit in the draft of the field. It made it much easier compared to a race with 9 riders and no breaks from the wind.

The race was controlled by the larger teams; Group Health, KR, and HB. There were a few breaks on the first lap that didn't go far and then one with all three major teams represented and both my teammate and I weren't in good positions to go with it. My teammate got very close to bridging up but didn't quite make it. The break must have been riding pretty hard because some of the riders ended up coming back to the pack. I went to the front to help the Bike Sale team pull it back but the Group Health team joined in the paceline to slow it down. Too bad because I thought we could have pulled it back. There were several attempts by riders from teams in the break and not in the break to get something else going up the road but none could escape the pack. We ended up with a pack sprint and I found that I didn't have the power to keep up in the last 200 meters and rolled in near the back. Looks like I need to build some power before track starts up!

Today I did an easy ride with teammates. I got flat on my brand new rear tire. It was easy to change though and I was glad it didn't happen during the race.

Lots of Flats

When I get a flat tire it tends to happen more than once in the same ride, which is why I usually carry three tubes. Today when I left I looked at my rear tire and thought it was almost time to replace it but I thought it would be OK for one more ride.

Half-way down the street it didn't feel right so I went back home and put on a brand new tire. Still plenty of time to make the ride. I get a mile down the road and I flat suddenly. Probably because I pinched part of the tube. The hole was next to the valve stem. So I put in a new tube and still had enough time to make it to the ride and avoided a big pile of glass. I met the group but then when we were about to leave I noticed my tire was low so I added air. We got about 5 miles along and I had to add air again. Before the big hill I decided it was time to change the slow leak. But then somehow the tube got pinched again and popped loudly. The hole was opposite of the valve stem this time. So I let the guys change the tube - but this time the valve stem broke. By now I wasn't too popular with my riding buddies. We changed it the last time and headed up the hill but my tire had a weird hop in it. I decided not to push my luck any further and turned around and went home. My teammate and her husband came with me to make sure I made it because I was now out of spare tubes.

I got a new tire and a new rim strip when I got home and will use the unlucky tire on the indoor trainer.

Yesterday I rode rollers on my track bike. Mark had me do some intervals at 120 rpms. I was really sore after. It takes more energy on the rollers to keep yourself up. So I didn't mind the shorter ride today so much.

Hills today

We rode a bunch of hills today, Norway, Simmonds, and Juanita. I was tired after the all of the hills and the race yesterday so I decided to go back on the Burke Gilman trail. I stopped to pet Scampy, the "Burke Gilman Trail Cat", and his Friend Orca and Scampy came up to me and crawled right over my shoulder on to my back and started purring really loudly. It was really funny. Mary had a camera a snapped a few photos.

Icebreaker TT

First race of the year today. It was just a time trial but I still had to get all my race stuff figured out again.

I raced about 20 seconds slower than last year but I think the time was reasonable since I was riding my rain bike instead of my race bike. At the last minute I realized that my time trial bars didn't fit on my upgraded handle bars on my race bike so I pulled the fender off my training bike and rode that. It may not have been faster but it was very comfortable!

I tried to push a bigger gear than usual but I'm not sure if it made me any faster.

It was a fun day though and their were some cute bunnies hanging around the registration area.