Longbranch

Sometimes ya just gotta say "what the f***". It was one of those days. I was excited to race at Longbranch, it is a course that I liked last year, but was not prepared for. This year, I thought that I would be ready, yet my equipment did not cooperate. I wanted to get out front early, just to navigate some of the potholes, turns and hills. My objective was to reach the main hill first, recover on the hill and force people past me rather than dodging feeble climbers.
It worked and felt great. As soon as six or seven riders went by me on the hill, I tacked on and my heart rate came down. I wanted the front of the pack to build around me rather than chase. Anticipated the descent to the bridge, then shifted to prepare for the climb and when I adjusted my rear derailleur, it jumped from 21 to 11 and my chain bound up. I could not recover on the hill, got off the bike and ran across the road. The ref yelled at me to go right, but it was clear left and I did not want to cause a pile-up. The mechanic in the support vehicle tried to help me, but the derailleur cable kept getting stuck. I put the chain on the 21t cog and road back to the finish in hopes of a neutral bike or mechanic with a stand and tools. No such luck. One of the refs tried to help me, but we could not get it to shift.
One freakin lap on such a beautiful day. I decide to just make a training ride with the 53/39 21t speed options and did fine for a second lap. Caught back up to a group of five and worked with them until the finish stretch where my gearing 53-21 worked best and spun away from these guys, keeping in contact with the cat 5's. I keep spinning the rpms up to about 120-150 on the descents and decide to catch the cat 5's because I keep blowing by guys that are getting spit off the back. I hit the steep climb with good momentum and decide to keep it in the big ring - that worked until the chain broke and I met up with my top tube. I carry a tool kit with a quick link but decide against using it. I walk back, grab my chain, put my bike on my should and hoof it up the rest of the way to the top.
I met Jill from Starbucks who was there to cheer on her riders and she offered me a ride back to the start. So I only made it 2.5 laps and
left my Garmin on so it recorded Jill's driving speed back to the start as well.

My stats for lap one looked good. My HR did not get out of control, and I maintained decent speed for the first 8 miles whoo hoo.

I need a crash course on SRAM derailleurs and shifters.