Ross and I headed to Buffalo last weekend for Elite Nationals ITU race. We had fun driving through Canada and stopping at Niagara Falls for a quick visit. Ross and I did a homestay and were welcomed by a couple who owns Bert's Bike Shop-there are a few stores located throughout Buffalo. Bert's Bikes was a sponsor for the race. Anyway, homestays can be fun as it is always great meeting new people! Everyone around the area seemed very friendly and welcoming. It was also fun to see my coach, Barb, at the race, as well as other athletes I have met at previous races.
Well, three days before the race I ended up with a painful sore throat that prevented me from sleeping well the nights leading up to the race. I had never had a cold come on so close to an important race before so it was quite the challenge to ignore it and to keep on training in preparation for the big day. This took some mental toughness to not let it get in the way of my confidence for the race. I managed my symptoms as best as I could and showed up race morning ready to go! I had my coffee flavored Athlete's Honeymilk (a new addition to my prerace routine) and I knew my body would know what to do despite feeling a little under the weather. This course had 2 swim loops, 8 bike laps, and 4 run laps. Since the race was draft-legal, I knew I needed to be ready to hammer it in the swim and in the bike to get into a good bike pack.
I had a solid swim and ended up about 10th out of the water. I actually had a pretty bad transition as my bike almost fell over, which threw off my timing. Eventhough, I did get in a group with 2 other girls who were right behind me in the swim. We worked our way up and caught a couple other girls to add to our pack. We were just on our way to go and catch the 2nd pack up the road (they were a little down from the 2 leaders) when I all of a sudden hit a big pothole. Oh it was rough! It came up so fast and I was switching in the group, which made me miss seeing it. Right after I hit the pothole, I all of a sudden realized I could not push the same gear I was in and began loosing ground on the group! I just hammered to stay, but there was nothing I could do. I immediately fell back and just lost so much time. I was shocked, confused, and unsure what just happened...why couldn't I hang on all of a sudden? After a couple slow and rather painful laps (painful on the legs), I had to pull off the course. I was so sad...good thing Ross and my coach were there so I could shed a few tears! My coach looked over my bike real quick and realized that my back wheel wasn't spinning hardley at all...the break was rubbing against it! Oh man, that was actually a relief because I thought something was physically wrong with me. I must have had enough of a jolt when I hit the pot hole that it made my break lever move and get pushed to one side of the wheel...talk about tough resistance! I really can't believe I didn't crack my wheels with how hard I hit that big pothole...this is definately a testament about how strong my Rolf Prima TDF-58 wheels are. They have seriously been great wheels for about 2 seasons now. About a lap after I stopped, there was a crash within the group that I was merging with. About 6 people went down...there was a lot of road rash and my one friend was more seriously hurt (compression fracture in her back). I feel as if God spared me from this crash. He also allowed me some more rest on my injured hip that has continued to be a challenge for me yet this season. While this experience was sad and frustrating since I had to stop during the race, I also feel it was a good learning experience. Now I know to be a bit more aware of what could be wrong with my bike during a race-if something strange like this happens again, I will know to check my brakes! I have another chance to try out my skills at a draft-legal race next weekend in Myrtle Beach! I have had a chance to think about some drafting skills that I needed to freshen up on...so I look forward to racing again soon.
