Coventry Commonwealth Games

Coventry Commonwealth Games, July 1 & July 8 & 9

So I've been slacking in the blog department. Sorry about that folks..haven't had much to write about..until now. I competed in some of the cycling events of the Coventry Commonwealth Games over the past 2 weekend.

July 1 - Mill Mountain road Time Trial
This was a 1.86 mile climb with nearly 800 feet of climbing in that distance with an average grade of close to 10% complete with switchbacks with a finish at the Roanoke Star. To your average person that translates to a really steep climb in a short period of time with lots of turns. I raced Cat 4 which means new to road racing. In the week leading up to this event, we had lots of rain in the Roanoke Valley. So much so that lots of places got really wet..both inside & out. This included my place of employment. On the same floor which I work, one of the departments was water logged. It was so bad they had to move the entire dept to a temporary work area and air out all of the computers. In an effort to get the carpet dry, I guess they used lots of shop vacs & fans. I don't think things were totally dried out before the mold got into the air system. Mold is not a good thing if you are prone to allergies & asthma....like me.. My chest burned the entire week leading up to and including race day.

I guess it was not all bad..I didn't finish w/ a podium place, but I also didn't finish last. My time was 14 minutes 16 seconds. I'll take it. I was hoping for 13 minutes but it was not in the cards this evening. I placed 6 out of 12 riders...which isn't too shabby considering I'm not a roadie. My buddy Skip tried to convince me to race the remaining races that weekend, but I'm not comfortable enough on the road bike to attempt to race. No biggie. I voluneered the rest of the weekend at the Road RAce& Crit & got to see some awesome riders. The ladies were fun to watch....just wish there were more of us out there. The Cat 1 - 3 guys were fun to watch too. Very fast.

The following weekend was the Roanoke Mountain Bike Omnium. These were the races I was most excited about. 2 races in two days..I was not sure how my body would recover. The first race was a time trial back up Mill Mountain..this time on the trails. The course was close to a 3 mile climb..again an average grade of 10% with a climb elevation of 1145.3 ft. It was steep but didn't seem quite as bad as the road hill climb. We started up an alley then pavement, then the singletrack. Most of the elevation gain was on the 1st half of the course. then you could fly down the Monument trail, across the road, back into the woods. I felt strong through the race but didn't want to push too hard. As I came out of the trail head near the zoo, I sprinted. That was a mistake...I still had another 100 yards, straight up to go. That last part to the finish just about did me in. but I made it in under 30 minutes. I think my overall time was 25 minutes. The whole time I wondered if Oops the monkey would be seen on the course (Oops is a monkey that escaped from the Mill Mtn Zoo about a week prior to the race and had been spotted in the area) Fortunately no Monkey

Day 2 Carvins Cove Cross Country Race
This was the first cross country race ever held at Carvin's Cove. The sport course was close to 13 miles in length, complete with long climbs and narly descents. We had a mass start out the road. My legs were a little sore from the previous day but I decided to hang as best as I could with the sport guys (I was on the only sport female) so once we dumped into the first single track climb, Iwould not get caught in a bottlenect at the beginning of the climb. I was able to hang pretty good, cleared the first trail,no problems. Cruised along to the 1000' climb. Here's where I knew I could pick off more riders. I passed a couple of the sport dudes and pedaled hard to the Clownhead trail. The Clownhead trail is scary...steep, loose shale stuff w/ a few switchbacks thrown in for good measure. I have only been able to do this trail once this season & not at all last year so I was a little aprehensive going into it. I was able to relax, stay way off the back of my saddle & maintained a good line as I descended. I was even able to do all but one of the switchbacks.! WOO HOO. I got a little worried when I came upon a sport guy who was having a rough time. Fortunately he let me through. Down to the bottom I went...clean! No Bobbles. I was phsyched! As I pedaled along, a couple of the guys I passed on the climb caught me. We exchanged places for the next 10 minutes or so as we cruised along. Then my tire did not feel quite right..It felt soft...too soft. Shoot! I think I'm going flat...As I continued to ride, it got worse until it was completely flat.

Ok I am not an expert on changing tires...but I did ok until I had to get the tire back on over the tube. I had the worst time. Guys were passing me shouting "You ok?" I said Yes but in reality was thinking I'm cooked. I'm losing tons of time dealing w/ this stupid tire. As I was getting ready to pump it up, one of my teammates approached. He had just gotten finished fixing his flat. As we pulled the pump from the valve, the whole stem fell off! NOOOOOOO! I did not have another tube!..Fortunately a good samaritan tossed one my way. 40 minutes later, the tire was full again & I was on my way. I was probably 5 miles from the finish so it was too far to run w/ the flat. If I had been closer, I would have run in w/ the flat. At this point I was pretty dejected. I think I was the last sport rider out there. All I had to do was finish. I did not ride hard to the finish because my body had completely cooled down. I did not want to push too hard and I was not confident in my fix a flat job. I was happy when I came upon 2 of the sport guys who passed me. I passed them and continued on the connector trail.
Finally I got on to Hi Dee Ho trail. I flew down this descent & cruised into the finish. I was not happy but I finished...and podiumed.

I ended up overall Omnium winner for my class so I was pleased with the result for such a disastrous race. My hubby raced single speed & was got the best time overall in the sport field!..Way to go! Team El Toreo did really well as a whole with lots of folks on the podium. For pics check out my hubby's blog. http://bicyclesoup.blogspot.com/ My pics aren't pulling in again.


I'm looking forward to a light week on the bike & a weekend off next weekend.