Gateway Cup - Day 2: Tour des Hills

Today we headed to Francis Park, a 1.3 mile rectangle that was half inclined and half declined.  There were no "hills", but you could see and feel the incline/declines.

Found a shady spot for my warm-up.  It was near 100 degrees on Saturday!

After convincing myself that my rear rim was completely ruined yesterday, I realized that the rim tape was not entirely covering one of the spoke holes.  This is where I was getting holes in the tubes.  I put a dollar bill between the rim and tube, and somehow convinced myself this was the answer to my issues.

Of course, I was wrong.

The women's 3/4 field at the start line.

Obviously not paying attention to the pre-race announcements - oops!  

The race:
For the first prime lap, an attack was launched at Corner 3.  I moved with the attack as best I could and  crossed the line in about 8th place.  I got to the front a couple of times, but wasn't able to do anything good.  For Prime #2, I was on front and pulled through corners 1 and 2.  I tried to stick to the front of the pack, but ended up mid-pack when we finally got to the line.

26 minutes into the race - hanging out in the back of the field.

At 30 minutes I was not feeling it at all.  I just wasn't racing well today.  I prayed my bike would hold up, but knew from experience my chances of finishing without a flat were slim.  Sure enough, with 2 laps to go, I felt my back tire go flat.  I promise I'm really ready to admit the rim is done!  No more thinking otherwise!  I've spent way too much money on tubes and way too much time on changing tires.  I'm sticking to my spare wheel for the rest of this weekend!

I pulled off and started to cut through the park to the finish line when a race official stopped me.  He told me I could get scored if I stayed on the course and crossed the line.  If I pulled myself out I would get a DNF.  I soft-pedaled through corner 4, crossed the line and called it a day.

I don't feel entirely bad that I wasn't able to finish the race.  It's not the first time a rear wheel flat has cost me a race.  Besides, I wasn't racing awesome today.  I just didn't feel it.  In fact, I was starting to wonder if I had a brake rubbing or something stupid.  I'm sure it was just the feeling of the tire slowly going flat.  Whatever the reason, I just felt heavy and slow today.

Thankfully I've got two more days of racing ahead!  I'll do better next time!