Four women lined up at the start of the Open Women's race and we immediately voted to only do 3 laps instead of 4. None of us thought that an extra lap in the sultry, midday Macon heat was going to add to the experience. I checked out everyone else's gearing, which was a tooth or so easier than mine. I was worried I wouldn't be able to stay on top of my gear and that my challengers would pass me on the climbs. I had Ursula S. and Maria C. (last years winner) to contend with, so the race wasn't going to be easy.
From the start, I moved to the front, as I just hoped to get in the singletrack first and gap my chasers in the twisty stuff. My plan started off pretty good...
We had to ride through a CX-style chicane around some trees...still good...
Coming off the BMX track, both Maria and I missed the hard right turn and nearly crashed through the tape...not more than 10 seconds later, I managed to miss another turn, went crashing through some tape and did a slow motion endo less than 3 minutes into the race (yes, those new brakes work REALLY well). Sorry, no pics of that... It was actually kind of funny, as I heard Maria yell "C'mon girl, get up!" So off we go again, and I got back in front of Maria again right as we went into the singletrack. About a minute later, I picked up some huge stick in my front wheel, that I couldn't pull out while riding so I had to stop to pull it out...so there goes Maria again. I fix my wheel and then start chasing, and get back on her wheel in about a minute. I rode behind her for awhile to kind of size her up, and realized that I was able to ride the corners a bit faster, so at the first opportunity, I passed her, hoping she'd have to work just a bit harder to keep up.
Coming back out into the evil grass field after lap one, I had maybe a 30 second gap. I tried to recover through the field, but at the same time, I didn't want Maria to catch me. One of the things that made this a tough race was that there were so many places that your chasers could see you, and figure out what the gaps were. I figured if she could still see me, she was still gunning for me.
My second lap was pretty good, only about a minute slower than my first, and I managed to put another minute on Maria. I had a somewhat comfortable lead, so just needed to not fall apart on the last lap.
The last lap was definitely tough for me, as I was having a hard time staying on top of my gear on the climbs. I wasn't drinking enough, as I chose to use bottles, but I didn't want to have to slow down to drink as often as I should. Thankfully I had enough of a gap that Maria could no longer see me. The last climbs of the lap hurt pretty bad, but once I came out into the final grass field section I felt a bit of reprieve...until I hit the sand pit and had to strain to get through it, which caused my calves to start "thinking" of cramping up. I looked over my shoulder, didn't see Maria, so I just spun the last 1/2 mile into the finish, trying to prevent any full on cramps that would force me off my bike.
I made it to the finish, and won the race, however I was completely dehydrated and destroyed. Not being used to XC racing anymore, it was really hard for me to push myself that hard. Add not drinking enough, and I was feeling pretty crappy afterwards. Somehow I summoned up the energy to stumble up on the podium...
Despite feeling like a train wreck afterwards, I was stoked to win an XC race, stoked that none of the guys who started behind me passed me, and stoked to get a super-cool State Champion jersey. Maria was thinking about racing in the age group race, wow, what a trooper. I, however just crawled back in my car, cranked up the AC and let Chris drive me back to my couch where I proceeded to crash all afternoon.
2 comments:
A job well done!
CONGRATS!! Sorry I missed it but there was no way I had any time or energy to race :(
That trail does get HOT.
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