I had fleeting thoughts of "it's almost too warm for a cx race" as I headed out for my warm up 
laps on Sunday. 70+ degrees in November in the 'Lou--unheard of! No way was I complaining about it after all the rain we had. This was a twisty, bumpy course for Sunday. It had longer laps than we've seen in the previous races in this series and incorporated gravel and a switchback. What more could a girl want!I made sure to position myself at the front of the pack for this race. I looked around and wondered what the heck I was doing lined up against the Cat3+ women, but thought, "What the heck! Let 'em pass if they can." They did. The whistle blew and we were off. I held my position in the front until the C-racers (I really believe that C is for crash because these boys went down like bowling pins) bunched up. I got passed like the bread basket at Thanksgiving dinner. I forged ahead though. With a two longer climbs and a couple of little steep ones, I knew I could wear down some of the field. Slowly but surely I began to pass the girls who got away. There wasn't much notable about most of race with the exception of the boys crashing and my catch of the 10th place girl in the second to last lap. By that time, I knew Alice probably had too much ground on me for a catch, so I focused on catching Soli. I had been trading positions with a rider from Big Shark for a lap or two. We were on the beginning part of the course before the long climbs and off camber switch back. I jumped on his wheel and told him it was his job to help me catch her. (He had been looking a little beat by this point.) He responded to my challenge and I held his wheel up the climbs. I let him take me to one of the paved sections where I stood up and took off. It was somewhere in here that my HR popped 190+. I caught her at the barriers and didn't look back.
I finished the rest of that lap and the next one comfortably for a 9th place finish. My goal was to stay upright for this one and I did it! We're supposed to see more rain this week/weekend so Sunday may be sloppy again. :)
laps on Sunday. 70+ degrees in November in the 'Lou--unheard of! No way was I complaining about it after all the rain we had. This was a twisty, bumpy course for Sunday. It had longer laps than we've seen in the previous races in this series and incorporated gravel and a switchback. What more could a girl want!I made sure to position myself at the front of the pack for this race. I looked around and wondered what the heck I was doing lined up against the Cat3+ women, but thought, "What the heck! Let 'em pass if they can." They did. The whistle blew and we were off. I held my position in the front until the C-racers (I really believe that C is for crash because these boys went down like bowling pins) bunched up. I got passed like the bread basket at Thanksgiving dinner. I forged ahead though. With a two longer climbs and a couple of little steep ones, I knew I could wear down some of the field. Slowly but surely I began to pass the girls who got away. There wasn't much notable about most of race with the exception of the boys crashing and my catch of the 10th place girl in the second to last lap. By that time, I knew Alice probably had too much ground on me for a catch, so I focused on catching Soli. I had been trading positions with a rider from Big Shark for a lap or two. We were on the beginning part of the course before the long climbs and off camber switch back. I jumped on his wheel and told him it was his job to help me catch her. (He had been looking a little beat by this point.) He responded to my challenge and I held his wheel up the climbs. I let him take me to one of the paved sections where I stood up and took off. It was somewhere in here that my HR popped 190+. I caught her at the barriers and didn't look back.
I finished the rest of that lap and the next one comfortably for a 9th place finish. My goal was to stay upright for this one and I did it! We're supposed to see more rain this week/weekend so Sunday may be sloppy again. :)
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