Surf City #3 was rescheduled and happened on Saturday. We knew it would be muddy since it had been raining, but we had no idea... Lorri picked me up and we drove over to Watsonville. It was sunny in Mountain View, but as we hit Los Gatos and Hwy 17 it was raining - pouring. We kept talking about how great this would be to experience a "real" cross race, not the hot dusty conditions we've mostly experienced. It was still raining when we got to the fairgrounds and walked over to register. We saw the men's race finishing and wow were they muddy - but hey that was the guys -- they ride faster and closer together, we'd never be like that!
We met up with Yvonne and she and I decided we needed to pre-ride the course at least one time. It was nothing but mud. We had to run/walk many sections as the mud was just so deep and thick there was no way to ride it. There was an entire section around a horse corral that was ankle deep. Then of course there was the steep run up, which was very slippery. At the Halloween race I was able to run it, this time there was no way.
After the one preview lap, I got the bike all cleaned up, put some more lube on the chain and changed into clean clothes and shoes. We lined up at the start. I was in 5th place overall in the series so I really wanted to at least hold onto that.
We were told we would probably only do 2 laps given the slowness of the course. Cool, I could handle that! The whistle blew and we were off, around a sharp 180 degree turn and down a hill into mud and through a little barn, then an uphill section. I was going through the barn, shifting in anticipation of the hill - when I heard a snap. Something happened to my bike. I thought I just dropped the chain but looked back and the entire rear derailleur was hanging off the bike. I got off and one of the race officials looked at it and said, "your race is done!"
My first thought was "yea, I don't have to do this," but next was "crap, I want to be out there with everyone!" I stood there for a few minutes and was just getting ready to head back to the start when Lorri came up behind me (she was doing her pre-ride of the course, as she was doing the B race later on). She said, "Kim take my bike." I hesitated a bit and she kept saying "go! " Then I looked at her pedals which were egg beaters; I have SPD's. I said "I can't use this, the pedals are wrong." She kept saying "just go, just go!" So I hopped on and went.
The race announcer was really funny to listen to. He said "Velo Girl Kim Natzel has just been give a teammate's bike and she's back in the race!" It took a bit to get used to her bike, not only was I not clipped in, she has campy components and it took me awhile to figure out the shifting! I just went as hard as I could and managed to catch up to the last riders and just kept passing people. I kept hearing the announcer saying my name, and Lorri was continually encouraging me to go, go go, at one point she told me I was in the top 10.
I wasn't thinking about anything just going as fast as possible, which meant doing lot's of running! I went so hard on that first lap, that I was completely spent half way into the 2nd and a couple people I had passed in the first lap ended up passing me again. I kept thinking, "just finish this thing!" I heard the announcer saying Yvonne's name and thought "she's done already, I want to be done!" Finally I came to the last set of barriers before the finishing straight. I came across the line with a smile on my face! I heard Yvonne got 2nd, and was in awe of her. That was a really hard course. I jumped off Lorri's bike and we went over to the hose area and got it cleaned up as best we could for her race. Then I cleaned myself up and made it over to the start of Lorri's race.
The results were posted for our race and somehow I had managed to hang on to my 5th overall for the series and finished 11th out of the 21 C racers. Yvonne ended up 3rd overall in the series. Got a little goodie bag of prizes, one being a little bag from a company called good vibrations.. hmmmm, never heard of them. I looked through the catalog and had a moment of embarrassment, it was for "vibrators" and other adult items, also a coupon for 10% off, a condom, personal lubricant vanilla scented wipe. Ok then...thanks.
Lorri finished her race -- she had to do 3 laps. Her bike really got a workout yesterday! After cleaning up her bike again, we called it a day and headed home. It was definitely an epic end to my cross season and really showed how important teammates are. I thank Lorri for sacrificing her course preview for me and cheering me on. I never could have done it without her. I had a blast!
