Just this past weekend I went out to Galena with the other juniors on the team. I was busy Saturday morning so I only went down for the crit on Sunday. Everything was going really well at camp and we headed down to the race. Upon arrival my rear tire was flat, and it took a while to fix, but finally my dad and I fixed it just in time for me to warm up for the race. We rushed to get my numbers on and I was on my way. My mentor, Megan, helped me warm up and helped me practice the different turns on the course (thank goodness she did).

I went to line up for the start after my lap around the course, and after the rules were announced and the ref is putting his whistle in his mouth I hear pssshhhh. I look down to see that my front tire has gone flat. I rush to the wheel pit to get another wheel but there are none that fit in my bike, and I was out of tubes from the previous flat. At this point they started the race, and were just going to put me in when the tire was fixed. Running from the tent Megan comes with Dave Hudson’s bike that I can race on. Sure, the bike was big, and I didn’t have the same clips, and I wasn’t in junior gears, but I went to Galena to race, and that was just what I was going to do. The second lap around I hopped on the bike and got in the race even knowing I was going to get disqualified in the end. It was one of the best races I have ever had. The nicest part was that there was a whole crew from Get A Grip, and xXx helping me get back into the race. Galena was a great race, and I hope next year I can race on my own bike with no flats.