Monday, 2 July
No, that's not my weekend race report (I only managed one second in that department).
The first first was on Sunday morning. We were driving on the Delta Highway in Eugene and saw a turtle in the middle of the road. This was not one of those turtles that somebody wanted to remove from the Des Moines crit course. This was a critter, walking across the freeway. Its shell was probably 8-10 inches across and the color of concrete. Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic so I'm hoping it made it all the way across without becoming road kill.
The second first was during my race on Sunday afternoon. On the second lap, I was riding with one other woman. We had just turned onto the narrow, rolly, twisty road through the vineyards on this course when we heard a truck behind us. Since we had no lead or follow car, we did our duty and moved to the right, but it took a while before the driver got up the nerve to pass--you couldn't see more than 100 feet along the road at a time. It turned out that the vehicle was not a truck but a Hummer limo, and it took FOREVER to get past us. When it pulled in front of us, it didn't fit on its half of the road so the right wheels were in the dirt on the right shoulder. And then it turned right into one of the wineries, forcing us to slow down while we waited for it to turn its behemoth self off the road.
The racing was good; more than twice as many women turned out for the masters women's road race championship this Sunday than had turned up 3 weeks ago for the senior women's championship race.
9 comments:
it was good, fun racing! even though the field might not have been as "stacked," the avg speed was about 1.5 mph faster than the senior women's race where we all just watched each other - and it ended up being one of my harder efforts in an obra race this year . . . thanks for all of your work during the mens race - i heard lots of thanks for feeds!
Apparently you haven't driven in Australia. We saw turtles a couple times in a 3 week trip.
At last year's Elkhorn, there was a guy who went down pretty hard for hitting a turtle -- also the critter kind.
Nice work on the racing, too. Did they race all the masters' women together and then sort out the finishing order, or did you have a race of 6 ladies?
And, yes, it's nice out!
Yes, I remembered the turtle at Elkhorn, first stage, first 10 miles. A Second Ascent rider, I think. But the locals all claimed that the nearest turtles were in pet shops in Boise, so it's still a mystery. All the masters women started together yesterday, which I suppose you might think makes it easier for us older ones to just sit on the younger ones and get towed around--except that an older one crossed the line first.
because a younger one pulled her from the top of the climb to that line. . . .
The racing would've been different if the age groups had raced separately, but I think it was good to start us all together. Some people might never push the pace on their own but can stay with stronger riders who do....
Regarding the infamous Elkhorn Turtle. It was a pet turtle that just happened to be crossing the road at a very inopportune time. There are no "native turtles" in Baker County according to the Sheriff who investigated the incident.
The Second Ascent rider, Andrew Rosette who was unfortunate enough to break his collarbone as a result of the turtle collision won the cat 3 race overall this year. I haven't heard if he dedicated the win to the turtle :)
Kudos to Andrew! Did the Elkhorn Turtle recover as well from its crash-related injuries?
Sadly, the turtle apparently survived for a few days before succumbing to it's injuries.
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