NC State Games

We went to the bike races, and I took my bike along, just in case - although my mind was pretty well made up to do it.

These are the CAT 1,2, & 3's

Into the first turn.

Novices (me too)

The start of the novice group. There were only four of us. Right before the start the rider second from the right rode over a piece of glass and flatted his rear tire. He managed to get it fixed in time. I had been warming up in the same area and figured I was lucky not to have the same thing happen. When we got to the first turn and the back of the bike tried to slide out from under me I knew I had not been so lucky. My tire wasn't flat, but it was well on it's way. I finished the first lap, pulled into the pits, grabbed a tire pump and re inflated the tire. I spun it, and found the hole by feeling the air escaping. The referee said it was a long way to go to do just one lap, but I was thinking that the tire had to have been leaking for several minutes before the start, it had gotten me around once, so why not try another lap? I mean, maybe I'd have to stop at the end of each lap and pump it up, but I could at least try. So, off I went. That lap the tire felt pretty good, so I kept going. I didn't want to get lapped, if at all possible. The next lap the bike started feeling a little unstable through the corners, but not too bad, so I kept going for the last lap. The tire was really low, and I had to be slow through the corners, but I made it to the end, and almost caught the next rider. Anyway, I finished. I don't think there was 15 psi left in the tire at the end. I want to do it again, with air in my tires.

OK, I was the only one in my age group, so I "won" a medal. I'm not sure how I feel about that - I only beat the people that didn't show up. Next time, though....