Lined up at the start not feeling so good. Figured I'd go for a hard ride and see what happened. Don yelled go and I put the hammer down. Thankfully putting myself into the red zone off the start is one of my strengths. I managed to get a good start going into the single track around 3rd or 4th. Unfortunately we encountered a LOT of traffic right away, so the lead I worked on off the start was blown.
I rode at an easy pace through the single track, dropped the hammer and tried to pass when I could. One boy at a time. Understanding exactly how those boys feel, the last thing I wanted to do was compromise their race. We're all out there to have fun. . . . .I'm in SPORT for crying out loud. I'm not getting paid for this, nor am I breaking any records. Sit and wait for a place to pass. . . .hope to not lose all the gap I earned. . . . hope to not lose the lead girls TOO badly.
I heard a couple gals behind me who usually are in front of me. We decided to work together to get around some of the boys and pull each other. It was fun to actually get to ride with others. . . .usually I'm pushing myself to my limits without help. We rode most of the first lap together, and a good part of the second lap together. These girls pushed me a little harder than I'm comfortable with in the single track which was awesome. It was fun to work together and ride beyond my limits. BUT, it caught up with me come the second switch back ski hill climb. I tried to stay on their wheels, but knew I needed to budget. We all reached the top relatively close together, but I started to fall back a bit as I tried to catch my breath. I yelled for them to go. . . .they kept cheering me on. . . . I knew I was toast. I'd lost a few more spots, but would still scrape a top 10 out.
On the way down the ski hill one of the girls hit some loose stuff and went down. I called out as I rode past her, she said go, she was fine. I knew I was close to the top 5. . . . .could I pull a strong finish out on that last climb?
The answer to that question was NO. She caught back up to me and passed me just before the climb, along with another one of my fellow sport gals. I tried my best, but had used it up and simply had nothing to answer them with. One was in my age class. . . . she took 1st in age. I'm happy for her finish, but wished I could have had a little more to answer her challenge with. Perhaps next time.
Overall, I'm relatively happy with my finish. Sure, I lost 3 spots in the last 2 minutes of the race, but I rode clean (except for that one stupid tree), I rode with some other "fast chicks", and I pushed myself when I needed to push. Top 10 is always a great place to finish. . . . especially when you know you're not where you'd like to be fitness wise. It's all good. One day at a time. :-)
Thanks for the race girls! It was actually a good time. I wish I would have seen Spicy. . . . .but that girl is too freakin' fast for me. I hate that. :-)
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3 comments:
Nice racing, sounds like a lot of fun. Way to rock on the start!
Sounds like a ton of fun and a good race altogether for ya. Here in the east, we're lucky if the sport women classes have 10 women altogether! And no age classes sometimes... but cross season is a different story :-)
It sounds like you had an awesome race! Franklin just suits me perfectly. The lead out isn't long and it drops right into tight twisty stuff- which is where I excel. I don't want to complain about being behind the men as it really doesn't make sense to change it, but for that course it is really bad. The worst was when you'd run into clumps of men. But whatever, I wasn't frustrated or anything. It's all about having fun and I did. My favorite races were 2 years ago when all of us would go back n forth.
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