The Spoked Traveller | Race two: deflated tire but not spirit. Groan.
Trails and advice cycling around the world as solo female cyclist and adventurer
mountain bike, adventure travel, cycling travel, bike tours, outdoor, solo travel, female mountain biking, badass female cycling, female travellers, women travel, adventurous
2776
post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-2776,single-format-standard,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-theme-ver-10.1.1,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.6.0,vc_responsive

Race two: deflated tire but not spirit. Groan.

25 May Race two: deflated tire but not spirit. Groan.

Posted at 21:38h in Blog by
0 Likes

There is no way to sugar coat this, or make it better, or describe the build up. I’ll give it to you straight: two kilometres remaining in my 2nd mountain bike race, ever, and thirty seconds behind the first place woman, I get a flat tire and come in 5th.

So, not knowing if I should run the risk of ruining the tire or flying off the bike because it’s so unsteady riding on the rim, I ask a rider who zooms by: “Is it bad to ride on a flat tire?” No, she yells out.

I take off and hope that if I can ride the flat parts and run on the descents, I can finish this thing. I did. Fifth out of six racers. And while everyone says it’s cool that I finished at all, inside my competitive spirit is growing and I’m thinking, ‘no, it’s not.’

 

1Comment
  • Paul Reinis
    Posted at 22:34h, 25 May Reply

    What you accomplished was extraordinary, given the circumstances and, especially, your inexperience… You were just over a minute away from 2nd place and you were riding with the woman who beat you by 4 minutes last race (you finished 3 minutes behind her in this race).

    It sucks to have a mechanical, but it’s all part of the journey.

    I’m super proud of you!!! So are your teammates.

Post A Comment