My pre-race jitters started early on this weekend. After my fall on Friday, I was moving slowly and really hadn’t convinced myself that I wanted to race Saturday night. When I was scrambling to find a babysitter when ours cancelled at the last minute, I almost convinced myself it was an omen that I shouldn’t go. Klucker knows my mental games though and reminded me that my bruises and soreness were all in vain if I didn’t race.
We got to the park way early…got to watch them run the tape around the course. It was chilly and my butterflies were doing wind sprints. I didn’t like the idea that I was racing with the “big girls.” The Bubba series only runs one women’s race and I hate being DFL! We got the bikes out and got registered. Other women were showing up—a lot I didn’t know. After a full season of road races, there aren’t many women racers I haven’t seen at one time or another.
They opened the course up and I went for a warm up lap. I’ve decided that this is one of the most important things I can do in a cross race. The course was tough—hills, off camber and a run up right after a barrier. I did a lap and was even more nervous. I didn’t want to fall on my hip again. I think I would have cried! Registration was slow, so our race was about 15 minutes delayed. We finally lined up—stuck behind the squirrely C men—and we were off. There was a crash early on (it was Klucker getting knocked over by a kid on a mountain bike in flannel). I avoided the carnage and kept going. The first time at the barrier was a log jam. I pushed my way through, ran up, ran down and ran up again. I remounted and was off. I was following Cory and Gina through most of the first lap. On the second lap, I decided they were in my way on the hills, so I split them down the middle and took off. Gina held on to me for a bit, but I finally shook her. Somewhere on that lap, I overtook Sam and kept going. For the next two laps or so, I played games with Big Shark Stephanie. I’d pass her on the up hills, she’d get me on the down hills. Finally, around lap four or five I was passing her on the uphill and she said “You just don’t go away, do you?” I calmly said, “I will now” and kept going. I stayed out of my saddle awhile to put distance between us. On the second to last lap, I could see Alice near me. I was going up the second half of the run up and I heard someone tell her that she could catch me. I managed a decent remount and took off. I lapped a few girls on the back half and finished strong. The results were crazy messed up. We ended up writing down the finishing order for the official so that it would be right. I ended up 5/15.
Sunday I was ready for “second verse, same as the first.” We were back out at Faust Park for the day race. It was packed when we got there. I saw a lot of higher cat women getting ready, I knew this race was going to be more challenging. It was awesome that I had three teammates there though..plus my very own cheering section with cowbells. The cross country race finished and I headed out on the course for my lap. The first change was that they had us going the opposite direction than the night before. The course was longer, more technical, and included pavement. The barrier/run combo had been removed and instead that was not an off camber climb, rutted out from the night before and still wet. Yikes!!!
The race started on the pavement. It was a huge C and women’s field. Just like the night before, the men crashed right away. (It wasn’t Sam this time, he was watching my cheering section!) I navigated around them and was off. I hadn’t gotten as good of jump on the start as I would have liked and quickly realized that I didn’t warm up as long as I should have. It took me at least two laps until I felt like my legs were open. I was positioned around the same women as the night before. I got past Gina by the second lap and was battling with Stephanie and Alice for three or four laps. Alice eventually passed me like I was sitting still. I played tag with Stephanie again for a few laps. We pushed each other enough that we made up a lot of ground on the girls in front of us. We finally came up on Jamie, one of my teammates, and I passed her on the back side of the course. I held both of them off until we came up on the off camber hill. They passed, one on either side of me. I kept them in my sites for the rest of the race, but could never get them. I felt like I had a good finishing place until I saw the results. 15th? WTH? Then I looked at the top girls. They had a girl I had passed early on winning. We gathered the women’s field and protested yet again. I think by the time it was through, I finished 13/20. I wasn’t as happy because I know there were at least three girls in front of me I could have beaten. I promise those thoughts will motivate my training this week.
We got to the park way early…got to watch them run the tape around the course. It was chilly and my butterflies were doing wind sprints. I didn’t like the idea that I was racing with the “big girls.” The Bubba series only runs one women’s race and I hate being DFL! We got the bikes out and got registered. Other women were showing up—a lot I didn’t know. After a full season of road races, there aren’t many women racers I haven’t seen at one time or another.
They opened the course up and I went for a warm up lap. I’ve decided that this is one of the most important things I can do in a cross race. The course was tough—hills, off camber and a run up right after a barrier. I did a lap and was even more nervous. I didn’t want to fall on my hip again. I think I would have cried! Registration was slow, so our race was about 15 minutes delayed. We finally lined up—stuck behind the squirrely C men—and we were off. There was a crash early on (it was Klucker getting knocked over by a kid on a mountain bike in flannel). I avoided the carnage and kept going. The first time at the barrier was a log jam. I pushed my way through, ran up, ran down and ran up again. I remounted and was off. I was following Cory and Gina through most of the first lap. On the second lap, I decided they were in my way on the hills, so I split them down the middle and took off. Gina held on to me for a bit, but I finally shook her. Somewhere on that lap, I overtook Sam and kept going. For the next two laps or so, I played games with Big Shark Stephanie. I’d pass her on the up hills, she’d get me on the down hills. Finally, around lap four or five I was passing her on the uphill and she said “You just don’t go away, do you?” I calmly said, “I will now” and kept going. I stayed out of my saddle awhile to put distance between us. On the second to last lap, I could see Alice near me. I was going up the second half of the run up and I heard someone tell her that she could catch me. I managed a decent remount and took off. I lapped a few girls on the back half and finished strong. The results were crazy messed up. We ended up writing down the finishing order for the official so that it would be right. I ended up 5/15.
Sunday I was ready for “second verse, same as the first.” We were back out at Faust Park for the day race. It was packed when we got there. I saw a lot of higher cat women getting ready, I knew this race was going to be more challenging. It was awesome that I had three teammates there though..plus my very own cheering section with cowbells. The cross country race finished and I headed out on the course for my lap. The first change was that they had us going the opposite direction than the night before. The course was longer, more technical, and included pavement. The barrier/run combo had been removed and instead that was not an off camber climb, rutted out from the night before and still wet. Yikes!!!
The race started on the pavement. It was a huge C and women’s field. Just like the night before, the men crashed right away. (It wasn’t Sam this time, he was watching my cheering section!) I navigated around them and was off. I hadn’t gotten as good of jump on the start as I would have liked and quickly realized that I didn’t warm up as long as I should have. It took me at least two laps until I felt like my legs were open. I was positioned around the same women as the night before. I got past Gina by the second lap and was battling with Stephanie and Alice for three or four laps. Alice eventually passed me like I was sitting still. I played tag with Stephanie again for a few laps. We pushed each other enough that we made up a lot of ground on the girls in front of us. We finally came up on Jamie, one of my teammates, and I passed her on the back side of the course. I held both of them off until we came up on the off camber hill. They passed, one on either side of me. I kept them in my sites for the rest of the race, but could never get them. I felt like I had a good finishing place until I saw the results. 15th? WTH? Then I looked at the top girls. They had a girl I had passed early on winning. We gathered the women’s field and protested yet again. I think by the time it was through, I finished 13/20. I wasn’t as happy because I know there were at least three girls in front of me I could have beaten. I promise those thoughts will motivate my training this week.
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