NORBA NCS#1-Texas
by Tracy Hambrick, Team Extremely Productive/Ellsworth

All right, here it is. The story you have all been waiting for. My first race as an Expert and at Nationals. For those that for some reason don’t know yet, I got a 5th, 3rd, 5th and 5th overall. We got ribbons for class wins and a cool iron works trophy for overall.

Day 1, Wednesday, March 2, 2005: Have you guys ever seen “Blue Collar Comedy Tour”? Ron White talks about flying across Arizona in a plane the size of a pack of gum. That is the plane I was on to Houston. I was trying so hard not to die laughing because I was thinking of his bit the entire flight. There was a row of single seats down the left of the plane and two seats on the right. Literally there were only 2 seats in front of us before the 3rd row. I have a million small-plane jokes that I was thinking of during the flight but I will spare you. I connected to my San Antonio flight in Houston and was off again. I gathered my bike and bags and went searching for my rental car. I discovered that, if the airplane you come in on is small they will throw your bags out on the tarmac and you can pick them up without going to baggage claim. If you don’t pick them up then they sit in the rain. My papers and things in the outside pockets were soaked. Terrific. Anyway, off to the motel I went. While I was unpacking my bike I discovered that the extra $80 you spend to fly with you bike does not entitle it to special treatment. My bag was ripped, the rear housing cut and down-tube badly scratched. Of course, they don’t cover damage to oversized items so I got hosed. I got to bed nice and early and then John Lilly (Zek) and Myers, Ursula and Amylynn finally showed up by midnight. They had driven from GA and AL.

Day 2, Thursday, March 3, 2005: Had a nice breakfast with the whole gang. I ordered my eggs to be cooked without butter or any other slime but they still put a huge clump of butter on my pancakes. As usual, registration wasn’t ready so we pre-rode the XC and TT courses. The trail was unlike anything I had ever seen. It had been raining off and on in TX since we arrived and the trail was coated in this slippery, tacky mud. There were ½ mile sections of slick-rock that were virtually impassable. You couldn’t ride it. You couldn’t run it. We just picked our way across it like it was ice. We stopped a few times to watch pro riders negotiate some sections, and they pretty much all fell on their hips trying to cross it. Saw the pro girl from Rocky Mountain getting photographed while riding the trail. She said hello. After we rode we stopped back by for our packets then headed back to the motel. We went to Wally World to get some grub, back to the motel for dinner then in bed by 9.

Day 3, Friday March 4, 2005: Up at 6:48 just like at home. Trying to stay on GA time. Weather is cool and misty. Realized that my arm and leg warmers and shock pump were still lying on the front seat of my truck at MARTA. Bummer. Good thing I threw in those tights at the last minute. Ate breakfast at usual time and starting getting my stuff together. Don’t feel real good but hope that it will all work out in warm-up. I had dead legs. Nothing would wake them up. Here I am at my first race as an Expert, on the National circuit and I have dead legs. I didn’t put a whole lot of effort into it because my coach had told me not to win the TT or STXC since I would hurt my legs and not gain much time. I struggled around the course coming across a girl that botched a turn and gotten hurt reminding myself to tell someone when I got back. After I finished I headed back to the start to tell them about the girl when I saw Todd standing in front of the bushes looking down. I thought this was strange because he told me that after the race he was going to go right back to the car and get some Endurox for Krista. Then I noticed that Krista was lying in front of the bushes. We would learn later on, that as she got close to the finish she hit a small stump and went flying over the handlebars. We initially thought she had broken her back and she did break her seat but it turned out to be a muscle spasm and she was OK after about an hour. That was all the stress I could handle and I did burst into tears as soon as I got back over to the car. Everyone was trying to console me and tell me that tomorrow would be better and I was trying to tell them that I was upset because my friend got hurt again, not because of my ride. Very upsetting. Anyway, timing was screwed up and a long wait for awards ensued. We all voted to hold awards the next day and finally headed for the motel. We spent some time at the motel getting bikes cleaned and tuned for the next day and then got in bed by 9 again.

Day 4, Saturday, March 5, 2005: Up at 4:30 to eat and shower. It’s still cool and misty. Warmed-up for STXC and felt much better. I lined up to start in the second row because I had a confidence problem and didn’t want to get discouraged when a stampede of girls passed me. The gun sounded and I jumped…right into the first line and had to brake. Wow! Better than I thought. We made the first right turn and headed up a huge climb. By the time we reached the top I had passed everyone. Then it was down the descent, which included a steep drop-off that John had said that he crashed on. I looked back as we went under the Start/Finish and saw 1 girl 20 ft. back and another girl 20 ft. behind her. Not bad and I am feeling great. Up the hill we went the second time and down the other side. This time when I looked back I didn’t see anyone. Cool! That was too easy. Then I remembered that my coach had said not to win so I started drifting back on the climb. It took them forever to get back to me, and I just played after that. At some point a girl was croaking out and I was passing her on the descent right before the drop-off. I hit the steepest part and the front wheel washed. She went right down but I put my left foot down, slid the bike sideways all the way down the hill, off the course, into some scrub and finally to a stop. I unclipped my right foot, swung Ellsworth back onto the track and off I went without even losing a place. WAY COOL! Too bad no one has a video of that. I bet it looked awesome. Even though I was fooling around I still finished 3rd for the day just 20 seconds out of first. My coach said that he wished he had known that it was a hilly course then he would have let me win. I would have had a win in a solo breakaway at my first race. Oh, well. I had a great time anyway and the confidence I gained from leading the two laps was huge. Another timing disaster, hours of waiting and no awards. Watched the pro men race which was very cool. Geoff Kabush, whom I had just seen at the Jittery Joes Launch Party that Mary and Nolan treated me, won and roadie teammate Trent Lowe was second. Washed the bikes, clothes and was in bed by 10.

Day 5, Sunday, March 6, 2005. Up at 4:30 again and am getting very tired. Flood warnings that had been issued the day before were correct and there was about 6 inches of water just outside our door. Went though the usual clothing debate about what to wear knowing we were going to be soaked to the bone but still at hard effort. Decided on shorts, tights, an undershirt Zek loaned me and my jersey. Started strong again and was climbing first hill when legs came under great stress. After about ¾ mile we got on the wet trail and I heard my back brakes dragging. I looked back and, not only were they constantly dragging, but my wheel was bent and pushing them to one side with every turn. I stopped and tried to loosen the cable but that didn’t help. Now I was on to the slime rock. I had planned to dismount and run it but the mud had actually washed off in the rain and it was ridable. I even rode the 3 scary rock ledges that I had absolutely no intention of riding. Brakes are still dragging and my legs are dying. I stopped again but now had about an inch of mud on top of them and couldn’t see what was going on. I loosened the cable again and started riding. They weren’t any better. Once I got to another stopping point I stood there thinking about what to do. I pulled the brake trying to see what was going on and realized that it was the lever sticking. Aha! Now I have to brake then push the lever back out. The back wheel was still bent and pushing the brake on every turn but at least they weren’t constantly on. Unfortunately, my legs had given all they had. Now it was just survival time. The mud had turned extremely tacky and was gathering on Ellsworth. At any given point there was 6 inches of mud piled in front of my brakes. The wheels wouldn’t turn. My bike was too heavy with all that mud to carry so I just drug it along behind me like a caveman’s club. I would scoop off handfuls of mud and it would instantly be back as soon as the wheels turned. I honestly didn’t know how I was going to finish. But finish I did, 17 minutes off the winning time. We later calculated that I had spent over 30 minutes stopping, repairing, dragging, resting and commiserating. I can’t wait for AZ to see if I can actually keep up with the big dogs.

As I said in my thank you email, Zek met me at the finish and proceeded to save me. I don’t know what I would have done without him. He said that I was standing at the bike wash staring at my bike and shivering. I remember wondering how I had ridden that thing with all that mud and how it would still shift. Timing was screwed up AGAIN when we got back from showering and checking out. We got our awards from the previous days and waited around for overalls. Watched the pro women race for a bit and got some more good pictures. At some point I remembered that I had a flight to catch and had to run off. I made it just in time. I I had to swap planes in Houston again but this time had to literally run for my flight and made that one just in time too. What a day! I caught the MARTA back to Doraville, collected my little truck and headed for home. I stopped along the way at Steak n Shake for a large vanilla milkshake and a chicken sandwich to reward myself for not DNF’ing even though I really wanted to sit in the mud and wait for rescue.

I learned a lot about myself at this race. I am very intrigued and can’t wait for the next race to see how I measure up, hopefully without mechanicals. As usual, I don’t do this alone or just for me. I race my little heart out at every race because you guys make me want to be a great racer. I hope I can make all of you proud of me this year just as I am proud of every one of you.
I learned how much tougher it is to be an amateur racer than a pro. They fly in, someone gets them at the airport and then they lounge in their hotel until it is time to pick up their perfectly tuned bike, ride, then turn it back in, collect their award and back to the hotel. We have to drag our bikes and bags all over creation, tune and fix whatever got damaged along the way, get the entire mess to the race, race, clean up, wait 4 hours for awards that never come, go back to the hotel, wash bikes, clothes, make something to eat, get ready for the next day and collapse into bed. It’s exhausting to say the least. You have to stay focused and organized or it gets worse quickly. If you don’t put things back exactly where they go then you are wasting time and stressing then next day about where it is. The maintenance and cleaning at this race was also astounding. Every day I was completely tearing down my bike just to get it cleaned and ready for the next day. This meant WAY too much time on my legs that should have been resting. I really believe that amateur racing isn’t just about who is the fastest. It is about who can face all the adversity and challenges that just getting to the race brings and still have the presence of mind to actually race.
Well, hope you enjoyed my story.