Quickie 'Cross Race Report

I'm going to make this fast because I'm getting the flu and my head is swimming right now.

I started out my day getting up early and teaching a Spinning class. I rode as easy as I could in class, using the time as a pre-warm up for the race.

After class, I hurried home, grabbed a quick bite to eat, stuffed all my race gear into a bag, and drove myself to Draper.

Once I pulled into the parking lot, I decided that I really didn't want to be there. The course looked foreboding, and everybody who had already raced was talking about how tough it was. It didn't help me to feel any better about racing.

But, I moseyed over to the sign-up table and reluctantly paid my race fee. Now there was no turning back.

Before I headed out for some real warm up time, we tinkered with Shanna's bike a bit (thanks for letting me borrow Scotty again, Shanna) . Once the course was open to everyone, I took a practice half-lap. I did NOT like what I saw. Ugh! What was I doing signing up for this race?

When I came around to the start line, people were already lining up. I lined up too and joked around with the other ladies that we could all get off and walk the scary stuff together. They all seemed as nervous as me, and agreed to the plan.

I got off to a bad start. I still wasn't sure I wanted to be there. Once I saw everybody else pulling away from me I decided to just ride and have fun. Pretty soon I had caught up to the front group, and we all stayed together as we came around the restrooms, went down the hill, and headed for the dirt. Nobody followed the plan we had decided on at the start line.

There were some loose gravel areas, some deep sand, and some super technical drop offs. I was convinced that I was going to go down in this race. But I didn't. Whew! I don't like getting hurt. Here I am on the run up. First, coming up behind the Bike Peddler girl...

...then topping out above the barriers.

I tried to take the dollar from the guy on the run up, but I missed.

After the run up, there was a long single track section ending with a super steep descent into a turn. My first time down the descent, I freaked. I actually stopped before the bottom because I wasn't sure I would make the turn. I hadn't been able to practice this section of the course before the race. Several girls ended up passing me, and I had to work to catch them on the long, asphalt climb back to the start/finish line. I was thankful for my roadie skills on this road portion of the course.

You can see how maxed out I was in the following picture. Totally gasping for air. Also, notice that I'm wearing shorts. No more tights mistakes for me! At least it was a decent day for shorts. It was great to get some sun on the legs again! I was actually ready to rip the jacket off by the time I headed into lap two.




Here's the bottom of the run up. It's still pretty flat, but you have to get off to jump that barrier. I had moved up to second place by now. I was surprised by this because of my bad start. I didn't realize I had passed so many others. But I had heard the announcer say that the girl in front of me was the leader, so my confidence was growing.
Riding toward the run up, the race leader was starting to slow. I knew she was getting tired. Since we were on the single track at that point, and I couldn't pass her, I went into Spinning instructor mode and started to encourage her along. The last thing I wanted was for the ones who were behind me to catch up to us.

As we hit the bottom of the run up, I dug in deep and passed the race leader to take the lead. I looked back and found that I had a good gap. Even though my heart rate was totally maxed out (I later checked my monitor and learned that I hit my highest ever heart rate: 197 bpm!) and I wanted to puke, I pushed as hard as I could along the single track leading back to the steep descent/turn. That descent was where I lost the race (okay, second place isn't exactly losing, but it wasn't the win I thought I had). I'd only seen the descent once before, and it has freaked me out. So, I took it really slow the second time. This gave the girl behind me time to catch up.



That's all she needed to catch me on the climb to the finish. As she passed, I tried to dig in a little deeper, but I had used up everything I had. I was done. In the above picture, you can see my brother-in-law running next to me. It was pissing me off that I couldn't get away from him. But I had nothing.

And now I have the flu.

That wasn't such a short story after all, was it?