I had been so excited for the Capital Reef Classic Stage Race for a long time. I hadn't been down to that area of the world since I was about eleven and I was camping with my family. I had good memories of the beauty of it all, and I was ready to go back.
Slingshot and I left home on Thursday after he got off work, and we drove down to the little town of Torrey. We checked into the Wonderland Inn (which, when we checked out on Saturday, was the Sandstone Inn). The first thing I noticed when we were checking in was the note on the door: "No bikes allowed in the rooms." I told the lady that I intended to take my bike into the room. She told me that they had a shed out back and some bikes were already there. Um, no thanks. She told me that with all the red dirt in the area that they just couldn't have bikes in the room. I told her that I had no intension of riding my bike in the dirt and that I kept it clean so it wouldn't be a problem. Finally, she gave me permission to take the bike in the room.
Friday morning Time Trial
9 a.m.
I was the third person off the line. I pulled up to the line and tried to clip in. No luck. I knew I only had 30 seconds and time was burning away. I got clipped in, but couldn't trust the holder-upper guy to keep me steady so I could clip in on the other side. Then the official says to me, "You have 30 more seconds." "What? I thought we were going out at 30-second intervals," came my reply. "Oh, shit!" was what the official said after looking at his clipboard. Great. I was already a minute down and I hadn't even left the line. Everyone else after me left at 30 second intervals.
8.3 miles
Mostly flat with some mild uphill sections.
24 minutes 33 seconds
5th place
Disappointing since I felt like I had ridden strong.
Some TT pictures of my teammates, Shanna and Kara:
Friday Afternoon Circuit Race
1:30 p.m. (Not enough time to recover! Plus, really, really hot!)
Here I am warming up in the only shade available.
This course was was either up or down, there was no in between. It was a 17 mile loop, starting and ending in the town of Teasdale. Beautiful scenery. Too bad I was in such pain to enjoy it. The course description said there were a "couple" of 6-8 percent climbs. Ha!
Kara
Me again...
17.3 miles
58 minutes
4th place + moved to 4th in the GC.
Saturday Morning Road Race
Here's where I become the doofus. Saturday morning I woke up, ate breakfast, and warmed up on the trainer in my motel room. The start of this race was supposed to be just down the road from where I was staying. Little did I know that not only did they change the time of the race to 25 minutes earlier, they also changed the start location. I left my motel room at around the time my group was leaving the start line. I rode down to where I thought the start should be. No one was there. I ran inside to check the results table to see where I should go. No papers! I asked some people inside and was told that they had seen racers heading out of town so the race must be at the other end of town. I called Slingshot and told him to come help me get to the race. I got back on my bike and rode back to the other end of town. Nothing! I stopped at the information center and asked them. They were like "what race?" Ugh! Then they said that maybe it was at the city park back down at the other end of town. Since I now only had 2 minutes until I thought we were starting I knew I was screwed. But I figured that I may as well go find out what was going on. So, I got back on my bike again and went back to the opposite end of town. Again, I stopped and asked someone if they had seen any other bike racers. Some lady told me that I should turn at the last corner and I would find the park. Once I looked where she pointed I could see a bunch of cars parked and a tent. That must be the place! I rode over and found the officials, who were quite surprised to see me. It was here that I learned that my race had started way earlier than I had expected. The officials told me that if I still wanted to race they would adjust my start time. So I headed out on the race all alone.
Sling caught up to me and followed me around taking pictures and such. I was glad he was there because I had a flat. I was just about to catch my teammate, too. Sling made a very quick wheel change and I was on my way again. I chased hard to catch up to my teammate. By the time I finally caught her, there was only about 10 miles left in the race. Luckily, the race organizers had taken out the Teasdale loop. I hadn't been looking forward to riding it again, let alone backwards.
Shanna on the course:
Me chasing by the "big rocks":
When I came in with Shanna, the officials remembered to adjust my time. They gave me an extra 36 minutes, putting me in last place in the GC.
At least I finished, right?
The End
2 years ago
9 comments:
wow, the organization of the race sounds stellar
nice recap, though.
I wish I was there, really.
No, you don't.
I think they live on a different planet than the rest of us. I guess when you live in such a rural place, you assume everyone knows where everything is. Addresses weren't given on anything, from the race information to the coupons given for free shakes and water bottles.
I was a bit frustrating.
The being late and getting lost this morning really was my fault. If I had only thought to check at the results table the night before, I would have known. I did hear I wasn't the only one to have a hard time finding it.
I guess even if you tried to see the communique you wouldn't have been able to because the coffee shop was closed when the rest of the team went by at 7:30. Shane showed up late to his start but they waited because the 3 GC leaders weren't there either.
Also, some strange lady brought me a picture of you and asked if I knew you. She said she thought it was cute so she printed it off. Weird. Anyway, I have a picture of you warming up for the circuit race.
Yes, I remember her coming up and asking if she could take my picture. I thought maybe she was an event photographer. If you're at Chalk Creek next week, please bring it with you.
I will be at Chalk Creek. I'm looking forward to a single race and not a stage race.
Dear Doofus,
I tried to warn you.
Sincerely,
The Cat 4 Mens race waited for 5 riders that didn't get the notice. They all pulled up thinking they had a 20 minute warm-up and we were all sitting their waiting for them.
It does make me feel a little better knowing I wasn't the only one.
Does anybody know why they decided to move the start time anyway?
The race official said that they decided to combine several fields, and this changed the start times. They admitted that posting the change at 6pm, was a little late.
In our group the late guys were pissed they couldn't warm up and the guys who waited were pissed because, they had to wait.
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