The layout of the course was as follows: long bumpy straight away, sharp turn into gravel, turns through to a short STEEP downhill (let me point out this was a 15 foot section, about a 60%angle) with an immediate left at the bottom. Next was around the barn with three 180s, back down the straight away followed by four 180 off cambers to the straight away leading to the barriers. The barriers were right before another 180 leading through a row of grapes, ending in a 90 degree turn followed by two more 180s. It went long and straight through tall grass, around a corner, over some discarded bricks, back to two long straights through high grass, one being a long, small grade climb before turning onto another loose gravel section and around a corner to the start/finish. I'm tired just typing that all.
We were early enough to take two laps on the course before Klucker's race started. I hatedthe bumps, the cliff, and the off camber 180s. I loved the long sloping sections--that's fun riding. Steph and I watched the Men's 4 take off and most of the race. We went down to the off camber turns to watch the line they were taking. The way I spent this 35 minutes was my first mistake of the day. I should have noodled around, ridden up and down the road, done something to keep my legs warm. Nope, instead I enjoyed social hour. It was interesting to see the men doing the barriers, who remounted right after and who waited until after the 180.
We got our call up to the line. There were ten women there--Carrie, Allison, Cory, Sally, Soli, Steph (her 1st cx race!!!), Beth, Kelly, Flavia, and me. Carrie and Allison were racing W123 and the rest of us were in Women's 4. (Side note . . . I didn't upgrade my cx license.)
The race started fast and I was in fifth off the start. I hesitated through the bumpy section on lap one, but then I concentrated on riding my race and was in third by the third lap. I knew I was riding aggressively, almost carelessly, because I felt my wheel slip in several spots. I passed Sally during the third lap and headed down the bumpy straight, gaining ground on Cory who was in first. I came up on the little cliff and took it hard and fast. I must have changed my line or went at it too hard because the next thing I knew my back wheel was over my head. Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick, can't I keep the bike upright! I unclipped because, yes, I rode my bike the whole way through the flip, and looked for Sally. There she was . . . pickles! I got on and took off. At that point I would have sworn to you my hand was broken. Sally followed me and passed me behind the barn because my bike handling wasn't quite golden by that point.
Cruising through the grapes . . . needing a hand-up of those in liquid form. *Photo cred: Mike D.
I worked to stay on Sally's wheel through that lap, even coming up even with her towards the barriers only to have her pull away. We were on two to go, after the grapes when I passed her again. This time I didn't look to see where she was at, I just pushed it. I realized when I went through the start I put a good deal of space between us and that as long as I stayed upright, I would hold second place. I also realized that Cory was no where in sight and had first locked down. I kept going hard and ended up with second.
Strong points for me this race: riding aggressively and consistently. Much better over the barriers--my timing for them was much better. Steph racing her first cx race. Cory getting her first real win.
Struggles: my warm up was too early. My legs weren't ready for the hot start and I had to work to get my place. Remounts weren't great but some of that was due to the fact that there was a 180 ten feet after the second barrier.
The next cx race on the schedule is Bubba #1 in 12 days. I'm hoping our women's fields continue to get bigger as they have been so far this season. I also hope my racing continues to makes the incremental improvements that I've seen over these last three.
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