Marianne Hernandez, Berkeley Hills RR, Cat 4

Race Report: Berkeley Hill Road Race-Women's Cat 4 The race was progressing nicely when at mile 12 someone in the front pack unexpectedly swerved and before me was a pile of downed bikes and riders which I unavoidably hit. I quickly got up, untangled my bike then realized my chain was off and my handlebars were turned 30 degrees to the left. After some effort, I was able to force it to 5 degrees from center and headed off knowing I'd be riding alone the rest of the way. Soon I noticed my front brake had come loose and even after disabling it, it continued to hit my rim unless I pulled the right brake pad off with my hand. I realized I could pull up on the cable near the handlebar stem and keep it off the rim. Then at mile 20 I thought of putting my bike glove under the cable to keep it taut so I could grip the handlebar comfortably. Before you go thinking "Lady MacGyver," that didn't work so well. I spent the rest of the race (only 33 miles--thank goodness!) with my index finger pulling up on the front brake cable. Needless to say climbing is not very effective with your hand near the stem of the handlebar. I didn't worry about the brake rubbing too much on the descents. I had the thought, "If only I had a zip tie." I guess an allen wrench would have been even better. : ). I ended up finishing the race with a few scrapes and bruises and the bike is already fixed!!

I'm pretty sore today though-ugh. I heard later that the reason for the crash was a squirrel . . .A SQUIRREL!! Aargh!! Oh well onward and upward.

Marianne