DISTRICT CHAMPIONSHIPS - WIN!

Saturday for my pre-race ride I decided to forfeit my usual cx ride routine and ride with Niki, Kristina (who had driven up from SLO for the team meeting that evening)Emily (who ditched us to ride with the boy's and her sexy Italian PRO) and Kelly B.for a mellow road ride (resevoir/Pt. Reyes.) I figured that I had ridden on the dirtenough the previous holiday week. Niki showed me that I have a ways to go if I ever want to become a sprinter (I always include a couple of sprints near the end of my rideto open up the legs the day before a race.) So as we were rolling back into town to have coffees and egg nog lattes at the Java Hut Niki casually said to me "Rachel, is your spare bike still running?" I replied that of course it was, I had just gotten it running a couple of days before heading up to Seattle and Portland, (where I made her spend the whole of both races stuck in the pits as my mechanic and then didn't even take a bike once!)She then gently suggested that I should bring the spare to the next day's race,That she "just had a feeling about it." I of course acquiesced immediately, ifthere is ever any kind of premonition in bike racing, you just "cover all your bases" especially since I now have a spare to bring! (I hadn't had a spare all season.) Later at the team meeting, I found out that Niki had been hiding from me the fact that this racewas also to be the District Championships. I figured that way why she wanted me to bring the spare, but then I also realized that now I HAD to win the race. I woke up thenext morning feeling surprisingly kind of nervous. Worked on my bikes that morning, snapped at my sweet boyfriend who was just trying to help (a sure sign that Iwas not only nervous, but also taking this racing a bit too seriously.) Niki came byto pick me up and we made our way to Coyote Point. As soon as I got on the course I realized that my legs actually felt pretty good! I liked the course (it was a very similar course to one that I had raced on, and won on, a couple of years ago.) We started fast and furious with Stella leading us up the hill, closing the door on me when I tried so squeeze past on a couple of turns. I made my move at the top on the pavement before the downhill and quickly opened up a 7 second gap on the downhill only to break my chain when I dropped onto the sandy stretch that turned into a beach run. I actually just thought that I dropped my chain, but it was stuck UNDERthe "third eye" device designed to prevent the chain from being dropped. After trying toget the chain un-stuck for enough time for Shelley and Stella to pass me, I decided to just run it into the pit where I HAD A SPARE BIKE!! I came running into the pitbellowing "I need a bike, bike, I need a bike" to a very frightened and shocked Niki, we had our first and only bike exchange, and I chased hard to pass Stella and catch Shelley. I caught Shelley pretty quickly and then passed her in the slow chicaney section to pullher on the flats, through the finish and into the up hill. I knew that I could putsome time into her on the downhill, so I was just waiting. I had a small gap at the bottom going into the sandy run which Shelly quickly took back and she took the lead. I decided to sit on her wheel for a bit and recover. I didn't have to wait long, because Shelley bobbled a little tricky section and then somehow wiped out. I rode past her as She was on the ground and put it down. I put a small gap on Shelley and then slowly extended it up the hill. I noticed on the downhill that she crashed on another turn and this let me put yet more time into her. I ran the sand as fast as I could and held my gap on the flats. Coming into the finish with a lap to go I heard that I had 25 seconds on Shelley. I knew that I could hold this gap, especially since there were manytimes where I was completely out of her sight. I cruised the last lap to come into the finish solo for the win! My first District Championship win! The few Districts that I had actually raced had been plagued by bad luck, broken Sycip frame when I finishedon Cameron Falconers bike (the kid is 6 foot 2) and on and on. Had Niki not insisted that I bring my spare, I would have had yet another sad story to add to the list. Thank youNicki for being such a great team manager AND pit girl!! - Rachel