i got a flat early while we were bombing down the hill in redwood park. i kinda sorta snapped the tip of the valve off on the frame pump. marian was going to give me her tube, but upon pulling it out, she had picked up a box of 650 tubes. oops. i felt okay, though, and figured i could make it, despite the slight malfunction. however, upon rolling out, she realized she too had a flat front tire. it seems we both hit something. now, we had no tubes. but, no fear, because we are girls and men will always come to save the day! (it only took a couple minutes and she bummed tube #1 off of a man with a neon yellow wind jacket.)
we rolled into castro valley and i realize i lost marian at a stop light. i turn back and long story short is marian is on the sidewalk with two very awesome people who gave her tube #2 cause she flatted in her rear. marian was perhaps smart and took karma's sign to go home. i however, am not so smart.
when i got to the early birds, i borrowed Laurie Fenech pump to inflate my weakass tire. right when i was finished getting air in it, it popped...and my valve had busted....or so i thought. laurie is pretty much the nicest person ever, and gave me a tube and i changed it. then i hear a pssssssssss again. and i was confused cause there was no glass for sure. i checked again; no glass. laurie gave me another tube. this time, i rolled around the block once, until i hear a pssssssss again. at this point, i am pretty frazzled as i was rushing to try to get to the clinic and i knew there wasn't glass in my tire, cause i had checked several times. anyway, upon some examining we see a big gash in my sidewall. laurie fenech again was like an angel from heaven and pulled out a spare tire out of car for me to use, so i could do the clinic! what a wonderful women. i was so lucky in so many respects-- that i actually made it to the clinic and didn't get stranded and that laurie let me borrow her tire so i could participate in the clinic.
i was very happy to do the clinic, cause taitt & laurel taught me some cool stuff. the hour went by really fast, but i think i learned somethings. i was so fortunate and lucky to have gotten that spare tire for sure!
i rolled over a couple blocks to the early birds to use to porter potty, but instead ended up hanging out with team oakland all afternoon and yelling at racers. my favorite part was overhearing the smack getting talked in the pro/1/2 peloton.... especially that guy who yelled: "hey. know your place!" that was a sweet line, and i am adding that to the repertoire.
this is laura, karla, me, carol, alice, and mel..aka team oakland and adoptees!
this is a very flattering picture of myself, yelling probably at the man off the back in the masters cat 5 race. i believe this photo suggests two future plans of actions: a) take it down a notch, and b) purchase some clearasil.
here is me talking to karla. my face does not look so ugly, because the picture is smaller and you cannot see my zits. also of note is the loose armwarmers. mel, my guru, told me the real secret of why i should lift arm weights: so my armwarmers stay on.
here is karla being funny. while some would say they are proud of karla for hangin' with the pro/1/2 big boys for so long, i was disappointed. i told her to go off the front near our turn so we could houl like banchies. however, she did not listen to me....because she didn't care about the fans, apparently. so instead, we had to watch some people with stars and stripes or some shit like that go off the front. it would've been way cooler if it was karla. but i'll forgive her because of her toyota echo.other exciting news was i got to see the fresnoakland dudes. holla! if i were the rest of norcal, i'd be super scared of this team. cause i hear their freezer is full of ox blood.
with a new tire and all, i tagged along the team oakland train back to oakland. we took the scenic route-- down hesperian baby. the ride back to o-town was quite eye opening to me. little did i know, but east oakland has more cycling fans than you can imagine! i've never been to belgium, but i best east oakland could give those eurotrashites a run for their money. i've never had so many people cheering for me on a training ride ever. it was pretty awesome. i mean, some dude was so impressed with us, that he ran in the center of street ready to give us a bottle feed of something in a brown bag! anyway, props to east o-town for having so many cool passer-byers give shout outs. i especially liked the three lady friends who yelled: "hey there are women! yeah!!!"
well, all in all, a great day. i must say, i was extremely lucky today with my mechanical mishaps and feel very blessed to being lent a tire so i could do that clinic! if anyone actually reads this blog, and you are a woman 3/4, you should come to the clinic next week! taitt sato is going to teach us sneaky things.
with a new tire and all, i tagged along the team oakland train back to oakland. we took the scenic route-- down hesperian baby. the ride back to o-town was quite eye opening to me. little did i know, but east oakland has more cycling fans than you can imagine! i've never been to belgium, but i best east oakland could give those eurotrashites a run for their money. i've never had so many people cheering for me on a training ride ever. it was pretty awesome. i mean, some dude was so impressed with us, that he ran in the center of street ready to give us a bottle feed of something in a brown bag! anyway, props to east o-town for having so many cool passer-byers give shout outs. i especially liked the three lady friends who yelled: "hey there are women! yeah!!!"
well, all in all, a great day. i must say, i was extremely lucky today with my mechanical mishaps and feel very blessed to being lent a tire so i could do that clinic! if anyone actually reads this blog, and you are a woman 3/4, you should come to the clinic next week! taitt sato is going to teach us sneaky things.
angel award of the month goes to laurie fenech.
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