Anyways, back to the race...it was a really fun course. Lots of high speed corners and fast downhills. Wish I had the opportunity to ride my SS there, as it would have been a great SS cross course.
I had a bad start as I pulled out of my pedal and couldn't get clipped back in quickly enough. I think I had to settle for 5th place going into the woods, which was not what I had planned. We immediately hit some off camber singletrack, and as the riders in front of me slowed, I could see the two leaders pulling away quickly. On a small climb I was able to pop back into 3rd but I botched riding through a ditch a little later, caused a bit of a pile up and lost even more time to second place. By the time I got back on my bike 2nd place was well out of sight. I tried to chase but guess I didn't have that "extra" gear, so I just rode steady. There were a couple of attacks from Becca and Elizabeth, but both riders slowed after attacking so I was able to maintain contact. I pretty much just waited for the others to get worn down a bit, then picked it up and rode off into 3rd place by myself, picking up time in the technical sections.
Next weekend is the final race, which I am thankful for as all these Sunday Cross races, while great fun, are a huge hinderance to my endurance training. I really wish the races were Saturday instead..
Hopefully by early December, Jayden and I can finally get rid of our colds and I can get back to some semblance of actual training. I'm looking into hiring a coach for 2010 so I can try to get back into XC racing shape. I'd like to build some power and improve my speed so that I don't have to use a "wait for the other riders to get tired" strategy in cross. It looks like I'll be focusing on shorter races next year, as well as some off-road duathlons.
Here's our podium..I'm trying to get Jayden comfortable with being up here for when she starts out-riding me!
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