The Race That Didn't Happen: Rides of March

I signed up my horse for a 30-mile endurance ride. I had to leave later than the others because I had an exam that day. After class, I met up with the boyfriend's parents to get the chains for my truck. Roni and Kathy had some for my trailer, I got them covered for the truck. We were golden! Went to the barn, got stuff ready, loaded the horses up, filed up the tank with diesel (and cried about the price), and off we went.

It was raining fairly hard. We drove for an hour and it started snowing. Got out at Applegate to ask chain control what was up. He said that traffic was stopped due to the storm. Huh.. weird, but okay. I had the chains, we were golden. Checked the news, which said to expect 2 hour delays. Hey, that's not too bad.

Drove a bit more and BAM, we were greeted by a bunch of stopped traffic. AND it was snowing. Alright, it not too bad. I was looking at how pretty the snow was because, let's face it, I was born at sea level, lived at sea level in Mexico, then moved to the Sacramento area. In short, I don't see a lot of snow!

So, we waited. And we waited... and we waited some more. After we moved about 100 feet and were stuck for 2 hours, we decided that chains were going to be necessary for the trailer. The catch: I've never put chains on my trailer...

I did the most logical thing and decided to ask a truck driver. Lucky for me, I asked the newbie truck driver! Good job, Kasea. He was extremely nice, though, and helped us as much as he could. Another guy, who had never put chains on his pickup, said that if he figured it out, he'd also help us. So we had two gentlemen helping us.

After we put the chains on, a third gentleman and experienced truck driver, checked on the chains and said they were golden. Yup... I've never seen THAT on my trailer.

So, we waited some more. The reports kept saying the same thing - 2 hour delays. But we WERE on hour 2.

This is what my truck and trailer looked like on hour two..

And this is my truck on hour 3-1/2... With chains on, too, because the roads were getting pretty bad. I had a chain monkey put on my truck's chains because I'm not experienced at ALL with chains (I've never had to use them), and he says, "It seems like you have a lot of weight in that trailer."

I reply, "Uh well... I have three horses back there."

"Oh really!?" He said. "They're so quiet! You should have them pull ya, haha!"

"Yup. We know how to train our horses," I told him.

We then started hearing rumors about what happened. 40-car pile up due to a big-rig crashing. Then, we heard it was because of spin outs. That only 80 West was closed. Then, we heard that a hydrogen truck had exploded, which made other trucks crash, including a cattle truck, and then the other cars crashed. Later on, we heard about the fatality. Then, we heard that the highway would be closed for another 5 hours. At that time, we were already 5 hours into that trip (by the way, in those 5 hours, we had gotten from Loomis to Baxter grade). So, we decided to wait it out.

Since we were stuck, we kept checking on the horses and decided to give them a little breather. In this picture we have (from left to right) Mac, Boomer, and Lucky. Surprisingly enough, the horses didn't make a peep in the hours they were in a trailer. They didn't get exasperated, angry, angsty, or anything! We were proud horsewomen. Kathy offered the horses water. Mac politely refused his water after touching it. Boomer, on the other hand, decided he going to dunk his head in the bucket (past his nostrils) and to throw the bucket of water at Kathy as if saying, "FREEZE AND DIE, BITCH!" Not a happy boy. But at least he was passive-aggressive about it and not loud. Lucky didn't drink. I think he was too petrified of what was going on so he just stood quietly.

Since we knew we weren't going anywhere, people decided that they wanted to say hi to the horses. They were a hit! Everyone loved the 3 horses that were in this clusterfuck. At least they brought a bit of a change and some relief. Seeing them out there was definitely a trip. We found out that there was another trailer ahead of us, though we didn't see it.

The other horses may have been upset about being in the trailer (though, as I said, they were very well behaved and quiet), but Mac was having a blast! He was in his trailer and in the middle of a lot of attention. I threw a snowball at him (his first time ever seeing snow) and decided he was going to eat some snow, too. Good thing it was freshly fallen snow!

We were stuck for a bit longer. We started to move, just to get to the front where we saw a stuck big-rig and a few spinouts. So, stuck again. Some guy came to talk to us, so we chatted a bit. Kathy talked to an AT&T guy who said that he heard a report where 80 was going to be closed over night, so we were most likely going to be turned around. Damn! All of this for nothing. Then, another man comes to my window and asks, "Hey, can you back your rig up so we could pass you?"

... WAT?

Looking back on it, I was very civilized to this cockgoblin. I replied, "No. NO I cannot back up my rig so you can pass me. I'm not going to risk my horses just because YOU want to pass me." We were stuck for 6 hours. WE'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!! We're getting turned around!

So, he did the logical thing and squeezed past me. And others followed. I told Kathy and Roni, "Watch some dumbfuck crash into the wall." Lo and behold, as soon as I said that, I heard a grinding. A dude in a little Honda car with NO chains crashed into the wall. Sigh...

A truck driver, whom we called "Big Daddy," had then come up to us and asked what happened with the dude who asked me to back up my trailer. I told him the story, he looks back, then looks at me and says, "Where are you going to back it up to?" Exactly... He goes off and talks to another truck driver, then comes back and says, "Okay. I got that guy to move. I'm going to drive behind him and I'll flatten the snow up. You girls drive right behind me, okay?" Big Daddy-o, you're awesome! If we could have given him a hug, we totally would have.

This is the mess we left behind...

We finally get turned around. The road is in horrible conditions and people are speeding past me. Great... we'll see more accidents! I decided to follow the plow because, hey! Freshly plowed road? Hell yea! Well, people were TAILGATING the plow, even with the sign that says "Keep 100 feet behind." Really, people? REALLY?

We get to Colfax where it wasn't snowing as badly. I pulled off because I needed to get the chains off. After much maneuvering of my trailer in a very small parking lot on Colfax, which had lost power, I park the trailer and try to take the chains off. After 9 hours of this BS, I was done. A guy comes up to us and asked if we need help. Since I was so exhausted, I said yes... yes we do. He took the chains off and we went back home.

It amazes me that even though I had a fully loaded trailer with THREE horses, we didn't have ANY issues. Minimal slipping, no crashes... but people kept crashing and spinning out. Drive smart, people! You'll get there! I promise.

After 9 - 10 hours of this, I decided to keep the truck and trailer hitched up and had the boyfriend pick me up. I was stressed, exhausted, and I wanted to sleep. We unloaded the horses. Lucky and Boomer hi-tailed it out of there. Mac, as I've mentioned, loves his damn trailer so he did the, "Oh.. but you know, I have hay... and shavings, and I'm in my trailer :) :) " Until I tapped his butt and told him to hurry his little Arab ass up. THEN he decided to slooowwwly back out of his trailer. Nice, Mac. Really nice.

We tucked the horses in (or threw them in their pastures. Whatever.) and we all went home.

I'm bummed we missed the ride, but there are plenty others. I mean, we most definitely had stories to tell! It was an adventure and a huge bonding day for Roni, Kathy, and me (haha!).

I signed up for the Nevada Derby, which is near where Rides of March is. Hopefully we have less drama and better weather!

So there you have it. The race that didn't happen. We survived!

UC Berkeley Collegiate Race Report

Those who were to go in my truck met up on Friday, packed up, and headed out to Berkeley. We got there earlier than the others, so we decided to get some coffee. By the time that we found a place, found parking, walked to the coffee shop (because we had to park a few blocks away), and walked back to the truck, the others were close. We went back to the hotel and checked in, got a bit settled, chatted, and decided that we'd go get dinner.

As we were walking down the street, a lady stopped us and said, "GO OVER TO ____. It's the best Greek food around!" Oh, okay. We kept walking and found the place.... so we decided to go in (after some debate). This place apparently had the "biggest" pita sandwich in the city, so we got it. I expected a pita sandwich with some meat, obviously, and a bunch of veggies. Boy was I wrong! It was pita bread stuffed with a whole fucking lamb (or beef) and half a chicken. Where the hell are the veggies!? Whatev. We then talked about nonsense and the race, and apparently the road race had a 2-mile hill at a 10% grade. Yeah.. I knew that this was NOT going to be my race.

Saturday morning, we eat breakfast and head out to the race. We barely made it on time because we got lost. We rushed to our start times. The Women's B and C groups were supposed to race together, a total of 3 laps around the course (30 miles total, 10 miles a lap), but at the start line, the officials told us that we were going to race separately. Okay... Cool. Then, one of the officials asked, "You have a choice. 2 or 3 laps?" A girl yelled 3 so the official said, "Three it is!"

Dammit. I almost got away with being lazy.

So, we start. The group was together. There was a hill at the beginning. One of those easy hills where I can easily big-ring it and feel fine. We went downhill for some time (reached 40 mph as a group, not bad, ladies). Then a climb, a flat-ish climb. We kept going on a flat area where I saw a left bend and went, "Oh sweet! More down hill" when the course peeps yelled "UP THERE!!!"

Oh. Snap. Son.

THAT was the hill. And yeah, I got dropped like a fucking rock. It was hard, it was unexpected, and did I mention that I got dropped? As I was riding through that horrible portion of the race, I was able to pass a chick, whom I found out was a B so it didn't matter. The reality is that only the first part of the hill was hard; the second part wasn't bad at all. Hey, this is why I do flat, sprinty races, okay?

Downhill. Back to the start line for lap #2. Caught a UC Davis girl and passed her on the first hill. When it got back to the horrible hill, she caught be. Damn skinny climbers. Downhill. Lap #3, caught her and another UC Davis chick. Decided to stay behind them so I didn't have to do much work. Lost one girl on a climb after going through Crockett. Lost skinny climber on the big hill. Didn't catch her after that.

I finished the race 14th... out of 16 riders. Hah!

Watched the Men's A, D, and Women A. Went back to the hotel, showered, and we went to dinner. Some italian place that was not very close to the hotel, so we naturally walked over, ate. Went back to the hotel. Slept. Fuck you, day light saving's time!

Woke up, ate breakfast. Went to the crit on time! Found parking, registered. Watched the Men's D and C races. Then I went. Catch. There was a hill.. and an uphill start. I'm doomed.

Race started. Within 3 laps, the leaders were ahead. Stanford, UC Davis, and Sac State. Yeah. Not as doomed as I thought. The thing with this hill was that it was one of those I can easily big-ring. Sweet. Stayed behind the Stanford and UCD for a bit, got second on a prime, and then lost the other two. I kept passing other girls, some more than once... twice.. I felt sweat on my face. Wtf? That much? Nope. It started raining. The officials confused the hell out of me and didn't ring the bell when I had a lap to go. So, I asked them. They said keep going. Bleh. I went. As I passed the finish line, one of the officials said, "Now you're done with the leading lap. You were the only one the first two leaders didn't lap. Good job." SWEET! I think the fact that I rode really right, fast corners helped me a lot since the other two girls took extremely wide turns.

Placing: 3rd out of 15. My first cycling podium finish! ON A HILLY CRIT!

The race was a lot of fun. I got to spend time with some teammates, left the valley for a little, and had got a 3rd place! Overall, I had a great time. It was the hardest race I've ever ridden (both road and crit), and one of the funnest!