Tulsa III

Ready to go! (photo by Ronee van Deemter)

Saturday evening we were treated to a lovely BBQ dinner at Tim and Melissa's house. There home is gorgeous and it was great to sit on the patio and enjoy the evening and the food was delicious!

Waking up Sunday we were hopeful to battle back after a rough start. With 5 out of 7 of us having hit the pavement our host house is more like an infirmary. Last year Sunday morning we were treated to a huge storm in the morning. This time the skies were clear and the sun was shining. I particularly like the course with the short power climb in it.

As was typical, we took the Riverwalk bike path to the race and this time had no dog or drunken cyclist encounters. The temperature was over 100 when we started the race. Today I actually had a new friend coming to watch. It really is a small world. A friend in France has a friend in Tulsa and she put us in contact with each other. And never having met her right before the race, I hear someone call out my name and it was Ronee, she had found me!

It is already strung out (photo Ronee van Deemter)

As is typical the race started fast. Melissa on her SRAM pit bike dropped her chain on the first lap and went to the pits but was a lap down. As the race progressed we kept dropping riders thinning out the pack. With about 18 laps to go I got stuck at the back of a crash on the climb and had to stop my bike. Due to complete race brain I tried to chase back on not even thinking that I should have gone to the pits having been involved in the crash. Dumb move on my part, as I never made it back to the front group and just dangled off the back. So my race was done. We only had Melissa, Leigh and Melodie left in the race and they held their own and finished with the front group.

Suffering! (photo Ronee van Deemter)

I actually got to chat with Ronee and her girlfriend Carrie which was nice since we had been Facebooking and texting before. It was great during the race to have someone cheering for you. Ronee took the photos in this blog which are awesome for her first time as a sports photographer!

After the race it was back home to pack up the bikes to fly home that evening. Never a dull moment when racing. Our flight from Denver to LA was delayed and X and I did not get home until about 3am. We had quite the adventure at LAX with the Flyaway bus to Van Nuys driving past us. Thanks to a great Prime Time driver who stopped and drove us to the Flyaway or we would have had to wait another hour. Luck and miracles do happen every day.

With Ronee the famous photographer!

The past 4 days have been filled with work and laundry as I am currently on my way to Philadelphia for the Liberty Classic race. As always, Ashton and Tren at Sundance have saved the day for me as Tuesday evening while putting my bike together I broke my seat clamp bolt. The fun never ends with bike stuff but they totally helped me out so I was able to do my sprints Wednesday on my rockin' Storck bike. Sundance Cycles is also one of those miracle things.

Check back for the update from Philly. Life is full of adventures!

The kittens, X, Liz and myself! We survived.