The Beechwood Blaster

Well, it was so freakin' hard, I couldn't even update yesterday!!

If you've never been to Beechwood, it's like Crystal Ridge on steroids. Lots of tight technical twists, only they're all up-hill (I swear the whole course is up hill). They're not nice and sweet like Crystal Ridge, instead they boarder drop offs into ponds and down the side of large ridges. A small biff at Beechwood can have you climbing back out of a 25' deep ravine. BUT, it's fun. Painful, but fun.

I convinced some peeps to sign up with me. . . . .after being convinced to do the "comp" race (3 laps) I find out 2 of my peeps backed out and a third was on the fence (pending child care). Great, I'm thinking that morning. It's just me. . . . .and Squirt. And she'll be done before I even START my 3rd lap. How much fun will that be?

We pull in the parking lot and take in the atmosphere. It's somewhere between a WORS race and a WEMS race in terms of the feeling of the crowd. I see Spicy pull in, so I'm excited I'll have at least one peep out there. . . . . .and disappointed at the same time cuz I know I'm gonna have to ride hard now. Sonia pulls in with Carlos, and now I'm thinking, great, I'm REALLY gonna have to ride hard now! But Sonia says she's out. . . . .too much partying the night before, she's gonna spectate. That was cool, cuz I heard her yelling at me in several places throughout the course. . . .and I sure needed that. I also see the ever famous Megatron pop out of the back of a vehicle. Now "it's on".

I get dressed and get Athena ready to rock, and then attempt a warm-up. I say attempt, because I think I got 10 minutes in, and then had to wait another 15 before we started, so I was not warmed up what-so-ever. The shotgun goes off (literally a shotgun) and off we go. I decide to play it cool towards the back, cuz I wasn't warmed up, I wasn't ready and I wasn't sure how I was going to redline it through 3 laps of climb after climb. Suddenly I realize I'm DFL. Sweet. There's no where to go but up now. . . . . .new strategy for next year? Definitely the opposite of how I usually start.

Anyway, I passed a couple people on the prologue lap and was in an OK spot going into the first section of single track. I had no idea where Spicy was. . . . .somewhere up there. . . . but I knew I left Gaby behind me, and I was hoping I could keep her there. Somewhere along the way I passed Megatron, I think she was struggling with the technical stuff - there's a LOT of that. Plus she said she hasn't even been RIDING her bike. . . . .slacker! I knew there were a couple sections of the trail I "couldn't" ride, one being a "bridge" which consists of about a 10" wide beam, only about 4 feet long. It always scares the SHIT out of me cuz I think I'm going to fall off it. I have YET to even try to ride it and I here I come upon it in the race. So I squeeze my abs, aim for the middle and hold my breath. Sweet. Ride right across it, no problem. It's not so scary. In fact, I rode it great all 3 laps. How exciting.

About 1/2 way into lap #1 I came upon Spicy. On a hill actually. . . . . . one of my strengths. So I ride up on her and pass and yell, "See you at the top", cuz I knew she'd be coming for me. But for now, I was ahead. The next girl in front of me was Lori. And there's no way I was catching her, unless she stopped.

I come through to start lap #2 feeling pretty good. I pull my EMPTY water bottle out to exchange for a new one. . . . . .oops, where's my bottle girl?? yeah, she's on top of some car cheering for me as I go by. I yell "WHERE'S MY BOTTLE????" I just hear some garbled words and I keep going. I'm thinking to myself, "how the hell am I going to make it through another lap without any water??" I'm already thirstier than all get-out, breathing like there's no tomorrow and I've got ALL those climbs left with nothing to drink. Oh well, it's not like I can turn around now. I'll just hope for the best.

The second lap was pretty good. I rode it rather well, redlined on all the climbs, hyperventilated at least 4 or 5 times each lap, and rode the rock garden like a pro. It was sweet. As I'm on the back half of the course I see an Angel. And Angel holding a bottle. I was saved. Shooter hoofed it back to the furthest point to make sure I got a bottle. What a sweetie. She redeemed herself. . . .I wasn't angry any longer. She yelled at me that I was only about 3 minutes behind Lori. I'm thinking "cool, she's pretty fast". But then I'm thinking "3 minutes, that's a RREEEAAAAAALY long time!". But I knew Spicy would be barking on my back door pretty darn soon, and I could feel myself starting to fade. I should have taken a cliff shot. . . .but hind sight is always 20/20.

Last lap the peeps are yelling at me that Spicy's catching me. . . . .I breathlessly mumble "I know, it's ok, she's gonna get me", as I keep giving it everything I have. She's right behind me on a climb. I get to the top, I'm SO redlined I just pull over and say "GO". And she did. I try to hold her wheel. . . . .I'm flopping all over the trail breathing like an idiot. I decide to just let her go. Maybe I can catch her on some climbs. Every time we'd dump out on a climb, I could close the gap a little. . . . .but never enough. Then she'd pull away in the single track. It was a fun, but painful little game.

Then it all went down. Cruising up some open stuff, building speed to get through the next section, drop into the marshy area, suddenly my wheel finds a rut in disguise and down I go. I do think I prefer SLOWER crashes as they don't seem to hurt quite as bad. I literally BOUNCE off the grass, skid several feet and I'm still tangled in my bike. It hurt like hell the moment I did it, so I knew it wasn't going to be good. But I knew Gaby was behind me. . . . . .I couldn't afford to waste any time. So I jumped back up, got on and pedaled. Oh it hurt. I almost started crying from a combination of pain, exhaustion and fear of being passed. I knew Spicy was gone, there's no way I could get her now. But I had to hold off Gaby. So I gave it everything I had. Ran into about 10 trees, felt like it was my first time on a mountain bike, rode the rock garden like a citizen rider, almost didn't make it to the last stretch of open field. . . . . .and I heard her. Right behind me. Crap. I knew she could get me on the "flat stuff", cuz that's where I suck. So I gave it 120% through the last section of singletrack, dumped into the field and put the hammer down. Hyperventilated before I was even NEAR the finish line. . . . .and I held my place. Sweet.

Finished 3rd, behind Lori & Rachael. Just over 2 hours (I think 2:05?) and won a sweet warm up jacket thingie. Lots of good food afterwards. . . . . .good conversation. . . . . .good friends. . . . . .a good time overall. A few nasty bruises and a terrible knot in my shoulder. . . .but I'm still in one piece and nothing is broken. What more can you ask for. Next year, my OTHER peeps better race too. They don't know what they're missing!