Tallahassee, and Technical Problems November 18-19 Ahhhh, the place of Tally...come Mr. Tally man, Tally me banana. A capital and university city, and ugh another rough drive. I really used to enjoy long drives. And all things considered, the drive to Talahassee really isn't that bad. Basically as long as I had my tunes going I was okay, but I think all these away trips were really getting to me. Makes me wonder how other people handle it. I guess it's just the rush and enjoyment of riding in this sport. It's just too much fun! Met up with a friend out there and hung out a bit after the practice lap. The course showed some elevation grades but nothing too extreme to be really concerned about. Most of the course was single track and the scenery was beautifully wooded. The temperature was fairly consistant and not too hot. What does all this gabber mean? The weather was awesome and course was fun. My start on this one STUNK. Just off the line, my chain comes off. After quickly placing the chain back on a cog and shifting I ended up toward the end of the pack. The beginning of course takes you to a gradual downhill with woop-de-doos. Boy did we have some folks drop outta the race on this section. *DOH!* Pretty wild...Three words: OUT OF CONTROL. I watched some riders really lose it on these moguls. Some of the guys were trying to jump em, and landed it wrong. Other's were just going so fast and weren't maintaining any traction they lost control and endo'd over the handlebars. It wasn't a pretty sight. Thankfully I was able to avoid any spills in front of me, to the right of me and didn't even bother to look behind me. But I pedaled on hoping to at least place decent, maybe show some improvement. Did I mention something about technical problems? Well, here's what ended up happening. I had recently upgraded my shifting cable to Goretex. This stuff is definately the way to go. It really makes a difference. Unfortunatley the locking nut that holds the cable on the front deraillure wasn't tight enough and the damn cable was loose and I wasn't able to shift. UGH! Come to think of it I don't remember having my hex wrench in my saddle bag to repair my situation. Oh what a feelin. (sound like a commercial?) Riding on squirley parts, my chain would fall onto the small chainring and I ended up just grabbin the chain and throwing it back onto the center chainring. Doing all this while I was riding, it was interesting. --Okay so my descriptions aren't professional, and I'm probably using the wrong terminology, but hey! I'm still learning.-- The biggest rush in this race was that I probably rode the best I have ever ridden. Because I knew that I had problems, I felt that I needed to compensate for my technical problem and ride harder. Once again, "oh what a feeling." Click here to go back to my home page. ©2005, Perry C. Palacio / perry@perry-palacio.net